Decision Making and Data Analytics
The National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) Lahore conducted a workshop on "Quantitative Tools for Decision Making and Data Analytics for participants of the 47 Mid-Career Management Course. The workshop, which was designed to enhance participants understanding of data analytics for effective decision-making, was delivered in three sessions three day August 3-5, 2026) Dr. Talat Islam, a distinguished expert in business administration and data analytics and Professor at Institute of Business Administration. University of the Punjab, Lahore, conducted the workshop. The first day of the three-day workshop was Lor background discussion, whereas the next two days were devoted to hands-on exercises The workshop commenced with Dr. Islam defining research and discussing the difference between basic and applied research. Then he discussed the importance of research question. Research question, he said, serves as the foundation of entire research. Further, he discussed variables in research, such as dependent and independent variables. He subsequently discussed the key components of research design, which included Research Design, Research Approach, Research Strategy. Time Horizon, Unit of Analysis, and Data Collection Method. Following the. Dr. Islam explained what type of statistical techniques could be used to answer different research questions in the end, he discussed SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) and as robust statistical capabilities. He also taught the participants its usage. The MCMC participants asked several questions throughout the workshop, which were able answered by the guest speaker.