Mysuru: A three-day workshop-cum-training Programme on Statistical Methods for Linguists and Educationists started at the National Testing Service-India (NTS-I) in Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, yesterday.

Pankaj Dwivedi, Officer In-charge of NTS-I and Co-ordinator of the workshop, welcomed and briefed about the objectives of the workshop. He said that in the last few decades, research has moved from theoretical   to data-based and experimental mode. Statistics undeniably holds a central position in such studies. For any research study to be objective, unbiased, reliable, valid and scientific, it is assumed that a researcher must follow the necessary steps: from collection and analysis of data to interpretation of the findings, in sequential and systematic way. He further added that working knowledge of statistics is essential for all researchers working in any discipline including linguistics and education.

Dr. V. Ilangovan, SRP, NTS-I also spoke. Dr. T.V. Somashekar, RIE, Mysuru; Dr. N. Kalaiarasi, NKT College, Chennai and Dr. B.S. Biradar, University of Mysore, Mysuru, will train the participants in basic statistics, statistical tools/statistical packages.

Dr. R. Shakunthala, JRP, NTS-I is the Local Coordinator of the workshop under the overall guidance of Prof. P. Rozario Dharmesh Fernandez, Head, NTS-I and Pankaj Dwivedi, Officer-in-charge, NTS-I. Prof. D. G. Rao, Director, CIIL, Mysuru is overall patron of the workshop.

About 35 participants from several Central and State Universities and other academic institutes of India are attending the programme.