Statistical Science Training for Government Employees

Abstract

Not many of us know of a relatively new nationwide training organization which has been offering courses in a large variety of subjects, such as ADP management, financial management, management sciences, and information science annually to thousands of Federal, State and local government employees. This organization is the United States Civil Service Commission's Bureau of Training, operating out of six training centers in Washington, D.C., and ten regional training centers located in all sections of the country. Statisticians, economists and teachers of statistics would be particularly interested in learning that one of the flourishing training programs under the auspices of the Civil Service Commission is in applied statistical science. During the past three years between 1500 and 2000 government employees throughout the country (mostly from the Federal Government) have attended one of the several different courses conducted by the Commission in statistical subjects. These courses have been well received by the trainees. The Commission is now working toward making these courses available to Federal, State and local government employees nationwide, and plans to expand the number of courses in the future. This paper gives a brief description of five of the Commission's present statistical courses, their objectives, general content and method of instruction. The method by which statistics is taught in these seminars has been greatly appreciated by the participants and this fact alone can serve as a guide to teachers of statistics elsewhere. But the receptivity of illustrations of statistical science and its tools of fact-finding and analysis of data in real government problems has been so favorable as to overshadow nearly all other successful features of the statistical science training program. This paper is written not only to inform statisticians and teachers of statistics, but also to alert the many executives, administrators, managers, supervisors and analysts in government who have not heard of the program and who could profit from participating in it, as did those few who took a chance in enrolling in the often-feared subject of statistics. The orientation of these seminars to practical problems of government, management, budgeting, cost control, fact-finding, etc., rather than to the more usual technical methodology has made these seminars understandable and palatable. The Commission has recognized the value of imparting knowledge of the wide-spread applicability of statistical science in government work, as well as the necessary skills to use those techniques. Statistical science training geared to specific areas of government, illustrating the potentialities of similar applications in other areas, has generated considerable interest in the practical uses of statistics and reduced fear of its complexities and skepticism of its practical utility in government work. The current system of training appears to have contributed toward a more balanced and practical view of statistical sciences in support of management.