STATISTICAL CONSULTING

The motivation for this book arose from the statistical consulting course that we have taught regularly for several years. In that course, we focus on the themes: • Understanding the statistical consulting "process" • Developing effective communication skills • Obtaining experience through case studies. In reality, there is no substitute for consulting directly with a client and for this interaction to be effective, good communication skills are essential. Unfortunately, this aspect of a statistician's training is often neglected and statistics graduates have little choice but to learn these skills on the job. One of the purposes of this book is to address this need. Statistical consulting occurs in a diverse range of environments and for tackling real-life statistical problems, the statistician needs to have a strong interest in the scientific method. History itself provides the best examples for developing this interest and so we begin with a brief historical voyage in Chapter 1. There's no time like the present, of course, and in the remainder of this chapter we describe some of the environments in which statistical consulting plays a major role. A detailed discussion on verbal and written communication skills that will be required in a consulting environment is presented in Chapter 2.

From the reviews:

THE AMERICAN STATISTICIAN

"Although there are other books that effectively tackle the individual aspects described above, this book seems to be the most ideally suited to teaching a well-rounded statistics course at the undergraduate of graduate level...[It] gives informative and self-contained discussions for the many aspects of consulting in balanced proportions that would make using the book for a textbook delightfully straightforward. The collection of case studies is diverse in disciplines considered and level of difficulty, and seems to focus on interesting problems that students will find highly motivating...a valuable resource for statistical consultants, both beginning and established...a prime candidate for use as a stand-alone textbook...since it contains a desirable balance of materials with statistical methodology, oral and written communication skills, and rich case studies...It will make a solid long-term reference for students. Also, for instructors of more traditional senior undergraduate and junior graduate courses, it provides useful case studies to illustrate standard methods in realistic settings that can easily be implemented."