2-day Workshop on Data Analysis & Research Methodology: A Practical Application (Following the University of Calcutta CCF Syllabus)

Date of Activity: 6^th and 7^th January 2025

Time: 11 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. everyday

Chief Guest: Prof. (Dr.) Sudakshina Gupta, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calcutta & Chairperson, UGBoS (Economics), University of Calcutta

Resource Person: Dr. Shirsendu Mukherjee, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, St. Paul’s Cathedral Mission College, Kolkata & Member, UGBoS (Economics), University of Calcutta

No. of Participants: 31

The Economics undergraduate coursework at the University of Calcutta has been given a facelift under the CCF 2022 syllabus. New topics like Microsoft Excel, Power Query and Power BI and others have been introduced for the first time. The workshop organised by the Department of Economics on 6^th and 7^th January 2025 was an attempt to familiarize the undergraduate Economics faculty from various colleges under the University with Power Query and Power BI. This workshop was a sequel to the workshop on MS Excel that was organised by the department in April 2024.

Over a period of two days the resource person took the attendees through the various aspects of Power Query and Power BI through lectures and hands on training at the computer laboratory (Room No. 442) of the BESC. The Economics honours syllabus under CCF 2022, requires semester 3 students to undertake a primary survey, do a statistical analysis using Microsoft Excel worksheets and, write and present a report using an interactive dashboard. Dr Mukherjee introduced the concept of data extraction, transformation and loading in Power Query and ultimately used this technique to create interactive dashboards in Power BI. The four sessions spread over two days, were immensely enriching and the participants in their feedback requested that similar future workshops would be immensely helpful in enhancing the soft skills of both the faculty and the students.