Understanding Statistics & Decision-Making for Natural Resource Managers

• Start Date: September 15, 2020
• End Date: September 29, 2020
• Time: 9am - 4pm with scheduled breaks
• City: ONLINE
• Instructor: Dr. Joseph Thorley
• This course will run on Tue Sept 15th, 22nd and 29th.

Course Description

This course is for project managers who have to interpret the results of statistical analyses and make decisions about how much data to collect and which management actions to undertake.

The course focuses on the fundamentals of uncertainty, effect sizes, significance, decision theory and the value of information. It does not require a statistical background and doesn’t involve any modeling although different types of results are presented and discussed.

This three-day online course is spread out over three weeks and will be delivered on the Tuesdays of Sept 15th, Sept 22nd and Sept 29th.

 

Course outline

The course will run from 9am-4pm and have the following scheduled breaks: morning break at 10:15am-10:30am, lunch at 12:00pm-1pm, and an afternoon break at 2:30pm-2:45pm.

Day 1

Quantifying Uncertainty (using probability)

Understanding Statistical Models (as tools for updating uncertainty based on data)

Day 2

Summarizing Uncertainty (using effect sizes vs significance)

Making Decisions (in the face of uncertainty using decision theory)

Day 3

Defining Management Objectives (that are practical)

Designing Studies (that provide value)

 

Our Instructor

Dr. Joseph Thorley, R.P.Bio. is a Senior Computation Biologist at Poisson Consulting Ltd. He has been programming in R and C++ for over 20 years and has co-authored over 25 peer-reviewed papers. He consults for industrial, governmental, conservation and first-nations organisations. Prior to forming Poisson Consulting in 2007, he worked for the Scottish Government as a fisheries biologist for three years.

 

Preparation and what to bring

You’ll need a stable internet connection and your own working computer equip with video camera and a speaker/mic adequate enough to clearly communicate via the Zoom video conferencing platform. More info on system requirements for Zoom can be found here.

 

What is included with this course?

At the end of the course participants will be provided with a PDF summarizing the material covered.

 

Registration

Members:  $495

Non-members:  $545

Limited class size of 12 people, register immediately to secure your spot.

 

COURSE IS FULL – email office@cmiae.org to be placed on the wait-list.