What certifications/courses can I take (Quantitative Research Oriented) - Senior Management in a Nonprofit

June 19, 2012 10:47 AM

Hi, I'm at a senior-management position and currently head three departments including research, strategic relations and advocacy and digital initiatives at a very well known non-profit media media company for children. I'm wondering what kinds of certifications I can take to add to my professional qualifications/credentials. I'd like specific certification/course recommendations that have to do with large-scale quantitative research skills, project management, finance and such. Qualifications that can be pursued internationally are best - I'm based in India.
posted by Varna to education (3 answers total)

You can get an online post grad or a one year masters in Project Management at Thomas Edison (I am thinking about this option.) You can also get a certification in project management, although which kind (PMI PMP, CAPM, Prince 2, Agile, Scrum) depends on your industry and on the location in which you want to put it to work. (Agile is big in IT, Prince2 is the standard in the UK, I think PMI is the more generalised industry qualification.) Costs and training availability vary a lot by location.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:15 AM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks. My industry is education management. Does that generate any additional ideas?
posted by Varna at 11:24 AM on June 19, 2012

Can you take 9 months off and have the org foot the bill (ask--I knew at least 6 ppl from overseas non-profits who were so sponsored)? Harvard's EdM in Ed Policy & Management program sounds perfect for you, minus explicit project management training. If you can't, check out their online extension school.

Proper large-scale research requires a lot of quant, more than could be learned in a year unless you already have a lot of stats under your belt. As the manager, you don't necessarily need to be able to conduct the research, just understand it. I'd take stats classes that cover basic tests (paired t-tests, z-tests, chi-squares, etc.), ANOVA/ANCOVA/MANOVA/etc, multiple linear regression, non-linear regression, multi-level regression, survival analysis, and principal component analysis. Survey design would also be useful. No doubt there are other quant methods you could learn, but I've found the following really helpful in being a thoughtful consumer of educational research.
posted by smirkette at 12:26 PM on June 19, 2012 [1 favorite]