The vacation training was designed by the faculty of agriculture in the college of agriculture and natural resources. The program was organised for all first and second years during the long vacation to help them have a practical view of what is being taught in the classroom. It is a two weeks program which started on MONDAY 18th OCTOBER to THURSDAY 27th October 2021. On arrival we were taken to the Queens Hall for registration. This means that we were to stay at the hall through out the period of the program. On the 18th october we reported to the faculty at 8h o'clock for the commencement of the program., During the program we were briefed on the department of agriculture economics, agribusiness and extension, also we were told about the prospects and opportunities in choosing agribusiness and economics. Additionally, we learnt how to design questionnaires, analyse data, how to use appropriate software to present data. Before a market survey is conducted, there are three main activities that we have to go through, these are: pre-field activities, field activities, and post-field activities. Under the pre-field activities we considered desk research, development of instruments, arrangement of logistics and pilot survey. For the field activities we considered commencement of the interview, conducting the interview and ending the interview. With the post-field activities we considered data cleaning, template design, data entry, analysing the data, and technical report writing. The need for research enhances knowledge and improve human welfare. Also, we got to know that every research begins with a problem. A problem is a state of difficulties that need to be resolved. Again, a research questions should always follow a theory. We then moved to data collection which is a means by which a researcher obtains relevant information regarding the major ideas of a hypothesis. There are two ways data collection: formal and informal ways of collecting data. Under the informal we have participant observation and non-participant observation. Concerning the formal way we have case study, schedule or interview guide and the questionnaire. There are also two types of questions when using questionnaires. They are: open ended questions (questions allowing respondents to express themselves by providing answers spaces), close ended questions (questions with alternatives). After the questionnaires he showed us how to insert the data on the software called SPSS6 and later how to transfer it to STATA. Later on, he spoke about ways to analyse variance by using ANOVA, CHI-SQUARE, T-TEST, etc.. Example: ANOVA (analysis of variance) is mainly used to compare the means of more than two independent groups in order to determine whether there is statistical evidence that the associated population means are significantly different., The whole training was a success just that we had few problems.
- They should provide rotational schemes for the second year.
- They should at least provide snacks for the students.
- They should provide a means of transportation to convey student to the department., We thank the almighty God for bringing us to the end of the programme and also a big thanks to the coordinators and instructors for a job well done. It was not easy though but we have made it to the end. This training was very beneficial because:
- We had the opportunity to meet friends from other departments
- It has helped us to acquire skills in data analysis.
- Also the taught how to insert data on the software called SPSS