What is Data Science (DS)? How does it differ from Statistics besides the use of Python or R algorithms? Zim Gvt already has a very very old institution or department called the Central Statistical Office, don't they do DS? This interview lacked concrete examples of applications of Data Science in Zimb. Response to what was studied the DS study program was messed up and confused. Zim seriously lacks datasets across all domains. Not much data is being collected at all. So doing DS or training any neural net leads to inadequate models that are unusable in practice.
Thank you for your comment. Whilst there is plenty of overlap between Statistics and Data Science, the difference may lie in more than just use of programming languages (after all Statistics also makes significant use of the same). Data Science is a field employing techniques from multiple disciplines including maths, stats, and computer science as well as domain knowledge to discover, extract and make use of patterns in data to accomplish a certain goal. Statistics mainly tries to quantify uncertainty and use, usually, smaller samples to infer conclusions about a larger population, and this is done through assumptions. Data Science tends to focus on predictions without key regard to the assumptions or correlation-is - not-causation that tends to dominate statistical thinking. Data Science in Zimbabwe has not been widely applied, due to the intersection of multiple factors including being a bit behind on technology and slower buy in from key sectors in the ecosystem. If Zimstats makes use of Data Science, it shouldn't be surprising as they are a key keeper of datasets in Zimbabwe, rather it would be pleasing to hear. What is true unfortunately is that the datasets aren't very accessible to the larger community, which is a key driver of the advancement of data science in the ecosystem. We hope that all the major arms of government that have access to data will consider having it available, to provide opportunities for the community to come up with innovative solutions built on data. As for the Masters program, I cannot reliably respond as I am not clear on what is messy, I'd be happy to have a chat with you if you seek any more information or clarity, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn.
Very informative, thank you so much. 💯
What is Data Science (DS)? How does it differ from Statistics besides the use of Python or R algorithms? Zim Gvt already has a very very old institution or department called the Central Statistical Office, don't they do DS? This interview lacked concrete examples of applications of Data Science in Zimb. Response to what was studied the DS study program was messed up and confused. Zim seriously lacks datasets across all domains. Not much data is being collected at all. So doing DS or training any neural net leads to inadequate models that are unusable in practice.
Thank you for your comment.
Whilst there is plenty of overlap between Statistics and Data Science, the difference may lie in more than just use of programming languages (after all Statistics also makes significant use of the same). Data Science is a field employing techniques from multiple disciplines including maths, stats, and computer science as well as domain knowledge to discover, extract and make use of patterns in data to accomplish a certain goal. Statistics mainly tries to quantify uncertainty and use, usually, smaller samples to infer conclusions about a larger population, and this is done through assumptions. Data Science tends to focus on predictions without key regard to the assumptions or correlation-is - not-causation that tends to dominate statistical thinking.
Data Science in Zimbabwe has not been widely applied, due to the intersection of multiple factors including being a bit behind on technology and slower buy in from key sectors in the ecosystem. If Zimstats makes use of Data Science, it shouldn't be surprising as they are a key keeper of datasets in Zimbabwe, rather it would be pleasing to hear. What is true unfortunately is that the datasets aren't very accessible to the larger community, which is a key driver of the advancement of data science in the ecosystem. We hope that all the major arms of government that have access to data will consider having it available, to provide opportunities for the community to come up with innovative solutions built on data.
As for the Masters program, I cannot reliably respond as I am not clear on what is messy, I'd be happy to have a chat with you if you seek any more information or clarity, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn.
Thanks Tatenda. That was very informative. You aksed all my questions