The Department of Economics, University of Ghana, in collaboration with the University of Michigan and the University of Cape Town, has organised a two-week training programme on the use of Stata, a leading software for econometric and statistical analysis. The course, which was being held at the University of Ghana for the third successive year, was attended by 25 participants and nine resource persons. The participants were from academia (mainly PhD students), the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

The instructors for the training programme comprised researchers and academics from the University of Cape Town, the University of Cape Coast, and the University of Ghana. The instructors from the University of Ghana consisted of the following senior members of the Department of Economics: Ms. Abena Oduro, Dr. Louis Boakye-Yiadom, Dr. William Baah-Boateng, and Dr. Nkechi Owoo.

The training focused on data management with Stata, and the analysis of survey and time series datasets with the software. Participants were introduced to the rudiments of Stata, including how to use the software to analyse datasets such as those from the Ghana Living Standards Surveys (GLSS) and the Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (GDHS). Participants were also introduced to the techniques of basic regression analysis and binary regression estimation, using Stata.

Through funding from the University of Michigan, each participant received a license for the latest version of the software (Stata 14). Participants were very pleased with the knowledge gained and were optimistic that the knowledge acquired will significantly enhance their research capabilities.