Crrc: e-bulletin of June 2009

Introducing Stata in Azerbaijan

As previously reported, CRRC has been providing multiple trainings on the basics of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), in addition to our online course. CRRC is continuing its aim of building research capacity in the region and has recently started offering trainings using Stata, a more advanced statistical software. On May 29th, Aaron Erlich, CRRC’s Regional Coordina­tor, provided researchers in Baku an introduction to Stata. Trainees were intro­duced to the Stata command driven environment, the basics of data manipula­tion and how to set up survey settings for complex samples to calculate infer­ential statistics. Future trainings in Baku will build on this introductory train­ing. If you are interested in participating in similar trainings in our Armenia and Georgia offices, please let us know by writing to Nana.

Survey on Current Political Processes

What do Georgians think about ongoing political protests in the country? CRRC carried out a nationwide face-to-face survey with more than 1800 respon­dents during the past several weeks to measure the attitudes of Georgians to the ongoing pro­tests. The survey results will be presented to researchers in Georgia and other interested parties shortly, so stay tuned.

Selected Upcoming Events

 Presentation: Corruption in Armenia: Public Opinion, Behavior and Expectations, Yerevan, Armenia, June 4 – Heghine Manasyan (ARM).

 Lecture: Pension Reform in Transition Economies: Lessons from Kazakhstan and Elsewhere, Baku, Azerbaijan, June 17 – Charles Becker (ENG).

 Public lecture: Promoting Democracy? Georgian Political Parties and Western Democracy Promotion, Tbilisi, Georgia, June 18 – Joel Lazarus (ENG).

 Lecture: The Dutch Disease and Monetary Policy, Baku, Azerbaijan, June 25 – Patrick Con­way (ENG).

For more events, please go to our country websites listed below.

Call for Applications: Corruption in Armenia

In September-October 2008, CRRC-Armenia, in coordination with USAID’s Mobilizing Action Against Corruption (MAAC) Activity and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), conducted the Armenia Corruption Household Survey to explore public opinion and perceptions of corruption within different areas of public life. The questionnaire included over 80 questions on general corruption percep­tions, corruption related individual behavioral patterns and perceptions of the government’s anticorruption actions.

To build on the survey, USAID MAAC Activity and CRRC-Armenia are offering five research grants to explore the database on corruption developed through the abovementioned public opinion survey.

The grants aim to promote the production of quality research papers or articles using the data collected in framework of the Corruption Survey. CRRC expects that papers developed as a result of the grant will be pub­lished either locally or in internationally recognized peer-reviewed jour­nals. The findings will be also presented to relevant stakeholders’ in Ar­menia. In order to find out about eligibility criteria and how to apply for the grant, write to Anna and/or visit the CRRC-Armenia blog.

Order Your Book Through the CRRC-Georgia Library

The CRRC-Georgia library is making a new book order, and you are welcome to recommend any book in the Social Sciences that you are interested in reading. Contact Nana and CRRC will try to purchase that book for the library and make it available to everyone. Moreover, you can check our online public access catalogue (OPAC), to check out the books and journals, which are already at the library.

Armenia www.crrc.am

Georgia www.crrc.ge