Data Training Workshop
SADC Epidemiological Network on Drug Use (SENDU) focal point training meeting
March 18-21, 2002 Pretoria South Africa
Preface In the Political Declaration adopted at the 1998 Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Drugs, Member States agreed to eliminate or significantly reduce the supply and demand for illicit drugs by the year 2008. However, reliable and systematic data to monitor and evaluate the progress towards achieving these goals are presently not available. Hence the UN General Assembly requested the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) to provide Member States with the assistance necessary to compile reliable and internationally comparable data. To respond to this request, UNDCP has developed a global programme to assess the magnitude and patterns of drug abuse. The main objective of the Global Assessment Programme on Drug Abuse (GAP) is to develop and establish one global and nine regional systems to collect reliable and internationally comparable drug abuse data and assess the magnitude and patterns of drug abuse at country, regional and global levels. At the global level, the programme will develop a set of internationally accepted indicators on drug abuse and develop practical and cost-efficient methods of collecting and assessing data on drug abuse. At the regional level, the programme will adapt data collection methods to the respective regional, cultural, and social environments, strengthen existing regional institutions, and promote a regional network for drug abuse analysis, thereby supporting sound policy formation. At the country level, the programme will develop and establish national capacities to collect, assess and report on drug abuse data for the development of national demand reduction policies and programmes. GAP will deliver an improved understanding of the extent and patterns of the global drug abuse problem. Information will be available from developing countries that are increasingly severely affected by illicit drug problems. Standardization of indicators and the wider adoption of sound methods for data collection will result in an enhanced analysis of trends in drug abuse in both the industrialized and developing world. Within the Southern and East African region GAP supports the development of the SADC Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SENDU). As a means of supporting this development GAP responded to a clearly identified need for training in data entry, analysis and reporting by hosting a workshop on these issues for SENDU Focal Points. This report describes that workshop.
Table of contents Introduction
2
Participants
3
Workshop content
3
Evaluation
4
Conclusion
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Appendix 1. Participant list
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Appendix 2. Workshop timetable
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List of Figures Figure 1. Workshop participants
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Figure 2. Participants receiving instructions from the consultant.
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Figure 3. Results of pre- and post-test.
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Introduction Information, Needs and Resources Analyses conducted to date in both the Southern and Eastern African region have clearly identified a need for training in the manipulation and reporting of epidemiological data. The shortage of such of such skills have hampered the monitoring of patterns and trends in drug consumption and impeded the development of illicit drug information systems. In response to this need the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), under the Global Assessment Programme on Drug Abuse (GAP), is providing training in data entry, analysis and reporting using specialized statistical software. This training is being provided to individuals from each country in the region who have been charged by their national governments with the responsibility of monitoring illicit drug consumption. This training follows on from training in the development of integrated drug information systems that was provided to selected East African countries by GAP in 2001. The training provided is in the form of a week long workshop. Three such training workshops are planned for 2002. The first workshop, as described in this report, was provided to national Focal Points of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Epidemiology Network on Drug Abuse (SENDU). The subsequent two workshops are to be provided to national Focal Points of the Eastern African Drug Information System (EADIS). The goal of this training is to skill Focal Points in data entry, analysis and reporting using specialized statistical software. The specific objectives of the training are to teach participants how to: 1. Create a database 2. Code and enter data from questionnaires 3. Produce summary statistics from entered data 4. Create graphs and tables to report summary statistics
Figure 1. Workshop participants
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Participants The training was sub-contracted to a consultant, Mr Andre Noor, from the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London. Mr Noor was selected for his extensive experience in teaching quantitative methods courses at the post-graduate level both in the United Kingdom and in Africa. Two participants were invited from each country currently involved in the SENDU initiative. This invitation was accepted by all countries. Thus two representatives each from the Seychelles, Mauritius, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia attended the workshop. In addition the GAP Administrative Assistant attended the workshop as a participant. A list of participants is included as Appendix 1.
Workshop content The workshop was held at the Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria. Each participant had sole use of a hired computer for the duration of the workshop. The content of the workshop was presented in a series of interactive lectures and exercises, as in a post-graduate tutorial. Participants were provided with a folder of notes to accompany the tutorials. The timetable for the workshop is included as appendix 2. The topics covered during tutorials were: · · · · · · · · · ·
Installing NCSS The data spreadsheet Data variables Coding Levels of measurement Frequency counts Table manners Data cleaning Descriptive statistics More transformations
A copy of the statistical package Number Crunching Statistical Software (NCSS) was donated to each participating country, with a perpetual license. The training package was designed around this software. However, the instruction provided in the general principles of data entry, analysis and reporting are universally applicable, regardless of software. NCSS was chosen as it appeared to offer all of the functions and the easy to use format of the highly regarded Statistical Software for the Social Sciences (SPSS) package at a reduced cost and with the advantage of a perpetual license. During the consultant’s preparation and over the course of the workshop it became apparent that NCSS was significantly less user friendly than SPSS. It was decide that this disadvantage outweighed its reduced cost. Future workshops will therefore use SPSS. This software also has the advantage of being widely used in tertiary education institutions, making assistance more readily available in most countries. Unfortunately sufficient copies of NCSS have been already procured for donation to each EADIS country. The GAP Regional Epidemiology Advisor is currently in negotiations with the software supplier to return these unwanted licences and replace them with SPSS. In addition to the training provided by Mr. Noor, training was also provided on oral presentation skills. This training was contracted to a consultant from The Voice Clinic, Pretoria. This session was held on the final afternoon of the workshop, after each of the aforementioned topic areas had been addressed. The training stimulated a great deal of discussion among participants. It also
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appeared to alleviate the concerns of many participants, as a number had expressed nervousness at the prospect of presenting at the forthcoming SENDU report back meeting.
Figure 2. Participants receiving instructions from the consultant.
Evaluation It quickly became apparent that participants had greatly differing levels of expertise regarding both the use of computers and statistics generally. This had been anticipated and it had been decided that the training would cater to the lowest level of experience, at the cost of progressing slower than more experienced participants may have liked. In spite of this even the most qualified of focal points remarked on how useful they found the training. A number of participants indicated that they intended to hold a similar training session on their return to their home country for colleagues involved in the collection and manipulation of drug epidemiology data. Prior to the commencement of the training participants completed a short anonymous pre-test. The pre-test confirmed the need for training in statistics. This test was also administered at the completion of the training as a post-test, and the results compared for the purpose of evaluating of the workshop. Participants’ scores for the post-test were substantially higher than for the pre-test, as is shown in figure 3. These results confirmed the need for such training in the region, even where participants possessed tertiary qualifications and had a high level of experience.
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GAP Data Training Workshop Evaluation 100 90
Pre-test
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Post-test
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Figure 3. Results of pre- and post-test.
Conclusion It quickly became apparent that participants had greatly differing levels of expertise regarding both the use of computers and statistics generally. This had been anticipated and it had been decided that the training would cater to the lowest level of experience, at the cost of progressing slower than more experienced participants may have liked. In spite of this even the most qualified of focal points remarked on how useful they found the training. A number of participants indicated that they intended to hold a similar training session on their return to their home country for colleagues involved in the collection and manipulation of drug epidemiology data. Prior to the commencement of the training participants completed a short anonymous pre-test. The pre-test confirmed the need for training in statistics. This test was also administered at the completion of the training as a post-test, and the results compared for the purpose of evaluating of the workshop. Participants’ scores for the post-test were substantially higher than for the pre-test, as is shown in figure 3. Despite the tertiary qualifications and high level of experience of a number of participants, scores for the pre-test were surprisingly low. This further confirmed need for such training in the region.
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Appendix 1. Participant list André Noor Dept. of Economics School of Oriental and African Studies Russell Square London WC1H 0XG England Tel: +44 20 7898 4556 Tax: +44 20 7898 4559 Email:
[email protected]
UNDCP GAP staff: Florence Musengi-Kawaza Global Assessment Programme on Drug Abuse UNODCCP Pretoria South Africa Fax. +27 12 3422356
[email protected]
Dinah Tjiho Lazarus Indongo Ministry of Health and Social Services Windhoek Namibia Fax. +261 61 203 2988 Email
[email protected]
Matthew Warner-Smith Global Assessment Programme on Drug Abuse UNODCCP Pretoria Tel. +27 12 342 2424 Fax. +27 12 3422356
[email protected]
Mamoliehi Mphi M Ntsekhe Narcotics Bureau Maseru Lesotho Fax. +266 310045 Email
[email protected] Benjamin Vel Daniel Socrates State House Victoria Seychelles Fax. +248 – 22 46 26 Email
[email protected] Fayzel Sulliman Gerard Pakion Port Louis Mauritius Fax. +230 242 3098 Email
[email protected] Pauline Tsiu Mrs Phepafalo Molefe Gaborone Botswana Fax. +267 580 870 Email
[email protected]
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Appendix 2. Workshop timetable
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
8.30
Welcome Pre-test Introduction Installing NCSS
Levels of measurement
Data cleaning
More transformations
10.30
Morning tea
11.00
The data spreadsheet
Frequency counts
Descriptive statistics
Evaluation (posttest)
13.00
Lunch
14.00
Data variables
Table manners
Graphs
Oral presentation skills (the Voice Clinic)
16.00 16.30 17.30
Afternoon tea Coding
Close
Further information This document was prepared by: Matthew-Warner Smith GAP Regional Epidemiology Adviser for Southern and Eastern Africa UNODCCP Regional Office for Southern Africa P.O. Box 12673 0028 Hatfield Republic of South Africa Ph: Fax:
+27-12-342 2424 +27-12-342 2356
Email:
[email protected]
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