Statistical Consulting

This book is intended for the statistician or student interested in becoming a statistical consultant, as well as clients who need to understand what is involved in the consulting process. It discusses different consulting environments, provides detailed descriptions of communication skills a consultant must possess, and provides concrete examples and case-studies of varying complexity. Emphasis is placed on the importance of engaging the client's understanding of the purpose and interpretation of statistical procedures.

Statistical Consulting provides the reader with a detailed overview of the knowledge and communication skills that a statistician needs to be an effective consultant. The reference to reader is intentional since the aim of this book is to clearly illustrate what the consultant needs to know from the client—and why! For clients who need to seek the help of a statistical consultant, this book explains, in plain language, what is involved in the consulting process. This book is primarily written for the student or statistician who is interested in becoming involved in consulting activities. Different types of statistical consulting environments are discussed, followed by a detailed description of the communication skills that a statistician needs to develop to be an effective consultant. In describing the statistical methodology that a consultant can employ, the importance of engaging the client's understanding of the purpose and interpretation of a statistical procedure is emphasized. It is assumed that the reader has the necessary technical skills to apply the statistical methods used in this book. Part I of the book concludes with a consultation project reproduced in its entirety. A wide range of case studies of varying complexity are presented in Part II of the book that will help the reader understand and appreciate the diversity of projects that can arise in statistical consulting. The appendices provide valuable information on resources, details on the SAS and S-PLUS software packages, and a collection of useful reference tables. This book would also be a suitable text for a graduate course on statistical consulting and a course outline is provided for the instructor in Appendix A.

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. "This book provides the reader with an overview of the knowledge and communication skills that a statistician needs in order to be an effective consultant. Different types of statistical consulting environments are discussed, followed by a detailed description of the communication skills that a statistician needs to develop to be an effective consultant"