Chris C. Attorney-At-Law: Part V -- My Data Gathering Experience

My experience in data gathering appeared to be hopeful. I only needed my best friend and father in-law to help out. My best friend introduced me to the Association of Human Resource Managers in the Hospitality Industry (AHRM) where I presented my dissertation proposal. On the other hand, my father-in law had a friend (a former undersecretary of the Department of Tourism) who introduced me to the current Undersecretary of the Department of Tourism whom I can request an endorsement letter to the President of the Association of Human Resource Managers in the Hospitality Industry (AHRMM). The data gathering experience was fun and exciting. The people in the hospitality industry circle accepted me with open arms.

The backlog was not in the data gathering, it was in the statistical treatment of data. I was advised to hire a statistician to perform the statistical treatment, although I was not lucky enough to find the right one. There was a time when I cried to my husband expressing all my frustration because the statistician I hired takes a long time to finish the revisions. I was really on a tight schedule, pressured to finish before my adviser leaves for the US, and could not afford to wait for my statistician to finish treating data during her own sweet time.

Good thing my adviser is well-versed in statistics. My adviser's recommendations regarding presentation of simple/uncomplicated tables and figures for easy review by the the panel of evaluators proved to be useful and enlightening. Although I had to learn SPSS and other concepts in Statistics on my own, the experience of doing statistics without any statistical expertise was a challenging quest.

Nowadays, there are free courses on Statistics that will give you a background regarding statistical treatment of data. For instance, there are courses on Statistics offered by Coursera [a website offering massive open online courses (MOOC)] where you can learn the basics and probably teach you how to perform statistical treatment of data.

I am not saying that you should hire a trustworthy statistician for the treatment of your data. I am also not saying that you learn statistics so that you can do your own statistical treatment. What I am saying is that whenever you will be asked on a statistical question by one of the panel of evaluators during the final defense, you must know how to answer it yourself because your statistician won't be there to give you the answers.

Below are photographs with my colleagues at the AHRMM after an inspiring lecture on best practices by a Human Resource Manager from one of the 5-star hotels in Metro Manila.