Increasing engagement around data and statistics – identifying andresponding to user needs(e-Learning course)
27 March-28 April 2023
GuidelineI.

OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE

Identifying and responding to the needs of users for data and statistics is at the heart of the missionof National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and national statistical systems. NSOs already undertake many
activities interacting with different users such as preparing press releases to aid journalists andcommunicate with the public at large and organizing launch events/workshops to disseminate
important results from surveys and censuses. In general, the NSO interacts with users towards the tailend of the statistical production process when the data is disseminated. There is an opportunity fornational statistical offices to further improve their collaboration with users by engaging more
systematically throughout the statistical production process. User engagement is the process ofconducting a dialogue with users of official statistics to understand their needs and improve theproducts, services and operation of a statistical organization accordingly.
In this course participants will learn what user engagement is and how to identify users (including
new and potential ones). Other topics that will be covered include tools for engaging users, developing
user engagement strategies and how to tailor different outputs to different users. Further details on
course content follow below.
II.

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

The target audience are those involved in the production and dissemination of data andstatistics in the National Statistical System (NSS), who need to ensure that their work isrelevant and used.

This includes primarily staff that work with statistics production and communication at NSOs
and at various Ministries, Departments and Agencies. While the user engagement skills arequite developed in many high-resource contexts, the NSS in mid- and low-resource contexts
are often much less experienced with this kind of work and have followed a more traditional
approach to data and statistics production (whereby statistics are communicated to users only
at a late stage in the production cycle, with relatively limited consideration of how the content
and presentation meet user needs). The course is therefore mostly aimed at those settings.
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III.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, participants will be expected to:•••••IV.

Understand what user engagement is and all the related key concepts
Identify users and potential users of official statistics
Choose the most appropriate engagement tools for different groups of users
Understand steps involved in developing a user engagement strategy
Apply good practices around dissemination.
COURSE DESIGN AND CONTENT

Each module consists of slides with explanations. After all modules have been completed,participants will be required to complete a final test that will cover all modules. The modules
are expected to take a maximum of 4 hours to complete. Participants are also expected toattend regularly scheduled live webinars. The webinars will provide an overview of thecourse topics and allow for participants to ask questions; more details will be provided at thebeginning of the course. Furthermore, participants are encouraged to actively participate in
the online forum of the course. In total, the course is expected to take a maximum of 15 hours.
Topics for discussion will be posted on a regular basis and participants are invited to share
their views/comments/questions.
OutlineModule

Coverage

1. Why do we need more userengagement around data?

•••

Introduction and learning objectives.
What is user engagement?
How can we engage with users?

2. What is user engagement?

•••

Introduction and learning objectives.
Key concepts
Why is user engagement important?

3. How to engage with users•••••

Introduction and learning objectives.
Who are our users?
User engagement tools
Feedback loops and receiving feedback
Strategic thinking

4. Producing engaging
statistics••••

Data storytelling
Writing about statistics in an engaging wayPresenting data in graphs and tables
Infographics and other data visualizations

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V.

EVALUATION

Participants must receive a final grade of 70% or higher to get a certificate. The final grade will becomprised of a test and course project. More details on the test and course project will be provided at
the beginning of the course.
VI.

SOURCE MATERIAL

This course draws upon various sources, including international statistical standards and case studies
from national statistical offices.

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