Statistical Consulting and the African Universities

Abstract

This paper canvasses for the teaching of statistical consulting as a course inAfrican Universities. Hitherto, majority of the African Universitiescurriculum in statistics just provides for the teaching of the act of consultingas an intern with older statistician. Since African students, learning statistics,are given little, if any, preparation for actual consulting, they are thereforeprone, particularly in their early years, to commit errors of the third kind: the error committed by giving the right answer to the wrong problem. Many of these errors could be avoided if the students were properly trained. Thepaper draws the attention of students, administrators, consultants andeducators to move more rapidly in filling this wide gap in statisticstraining/curriculum. The paper also looks at the technical and non-technicalissues in statistical consulting, and proposes remedial measures to havingconsultants that are measured up to the herculean task of statisticalconsulting.