Govt, academic statistical institutions urged to cooperate
KUALA LUMPUR: Strong collaboration between gover n ment a nd academic statistical institutions is needed to develop statistical science, says the International Statistical Institute-Southeast Asia Regional Network (ISISEA).
“A lot of people are doing data analysis and statistics, but only a few of them are statisticians.
“It is important for the sectors including banking, academia and government to collaborate to produce better findings,” its chairperson Shyamala Nagaraj told the media on the sidelines of the ISI Regional Statistics Conference 2014 here yesterday.
ISI president Vijay N Nair said struggling to get across to real data, some of which is confidential, is one of the challenges faced by academic statisticians.
“There is also the problem of data revolution, which means that the data can be found everywhere such as in social media.
“Making the data is not easy. You need to ensure that all the data provided is precise because it offers useful information to people,” he said.
Good communication and cooperation among the relevant agencies is needed in order to acquire accurate statistics, he said, adding Malaysia has a long way to go to achieve a high level of statistical development despite leading the region in academic statistics.
Some 500 participants from 40 countries are taking part in the inaugural four-day conference themed “Statistical Science for a Better Tomorrow.” It is jointly organised by ISI-SEA, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Department of Statistics and the Malaysia Institute of Statistics. — Bernama