Management professionals in Social Sector Organisations (SSOs) will have to deal with quantitative and qualitative data and analysis in the context of organisational needs. This may be to support project design, do an exploratory search to understand a local situation, capture changes on the ground quantitatively and qualitatively, and present data to stakeholders. This is a foundational course to build an understanding of data, with the aim of informing organisational decisions.

Participants will get familiar with the different organisational decisions across the lifecycle of social sector projects. They will understand what evidence is and what its relevance is in the context of SSOs. The course will introduce different types of data and key attributes of data. Participants will learn to evaluate data on its reliability and validity, while being sensitive to ethical concerns around data. The course will also impart a basic understanding of the processes involved in collecting data. Overall, this course lays the foundation for other data related courses in the programme which cover data analysis, visualisation and communication.