Statistical Literacy and Domain Experts: Evidence from University of Ibadan-Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis Clients

• Activity Number: 372 - SPEED: SPAAC SESSION IV
• Type: Topic-Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 12, 2021 : 12:00 PM to 1:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Consulting
• Author(s): Serifat Adedamola Folorunso* and Tomiwa T Oyelakin and Oluwaseun A Otekunrin and Basheer Olawale Akanbi
• Companies: Univerity of Ibadan and Univerity of Ibadan and Univerity of Ibadan and Univerity of Ibadan
• Keywords: Consultation services; Domain expert; Research proposals; Research writing; Stat Lab; Statistical packages

Abstract

The level of statistical literacy at the university is likely to differ by discipline.The application of statistics in different disciplines depends on the extent to which statistics is incorporated into the curriculum of the discipline and the nature of the research being undertaken.The consultancy services provided by statistical laboratories often expose them to different challenges faced by domain experts on how they struggle to apply statistics in their researches.Evidence from UI-LISA shows that domain experts battle with statistics in writing research proposals, formulating research topics and objectives, designing research studies,designing research instruments,administering survey instruments and collecting data, analyzing data using statistical packages and, reporting research findings. The goal of this paper is to assess the level of statistical literacy amongst domain experts within and outside the University of Ibadan who have benefitted from the services of UI-LISA. This is achieved by reviewing different domain experts’ projects, identifying their statistical demands,and how UI-LISA was able to provide support and this studies covers different fields.