WRMDC inaugurated at Pt Ravishankar Shukla University
| Date :21-Jun-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
Raipur
Workstation for Research on Micro Data from Census (WRMDC) was inaugurated at Pt Sundarlal Sharma Library, Pt Ravishankar Shukla University (PRSU), Raipur on Wednesday. It is to be mentioned, this project was approved on December 7, 2015 following a MoU between PRSU and Census Directorate of Chhattisgarh. As many as 18 workstations had been proposed to be developed across the country and PRSU is one of them. The workstation will allow researchers work on household-level data collected during the Census. The workstation will help researchers collect micro data from the Census and then understand the varied characteristics of population.
The researchers can also identify gaps in the census data collection. Be it research on fertility, mortality rates through the sample registration system or understanding the caste census reports, micro data analysis will help in gauging the problems. The objective of the workstation is to permit qualified researchers optimum use of anonymises micro-data from census by allowing access for generating tables not hitherto undertaken by the Census for in-depth research.
The facility is open to all including those who are not enrolled with the university provided the research proposal has the approval of the Steering Committee appointed for the purpose. Such research would not only allow greater utilisation of data by way of generating cross-tabulations from confidential micro-data not otherwise possible by using aggregate level data.
An in-depth study might also contribute towards using improving methodology of data collection during census as well as identify strengths and weaknesses of the micro-data. Each set of observations arrived at the data centre after research would be the end result of decision rules covering definitions, classifications, coding procedures, processing, editing, etc. The validity and consequences of all these decision rules only become evident when the Census sample micro-databases are tested in the course of analysis. Exposing to the light of research the conceptual and processing assumptions that are embedded in the census micro- databases constitute an important element in improving the quality of data. Census joint director TLN Shishu Kumar threw lights on the objective of the Workstation. PRSU Vice Chancellor Dr K L Verma, Registrar Dr G K Pandey, Librarian Dr Suparna Sen Gupta were present on the occasion.