What Do Statisticians Do?

So one might ask, what do statisticians do? Statisticians devote most of their time to two major areas.

Their first concern deals with the acquisition of the sample data. Rather simple modifications in the data-selection procedure can reduce the cost of the sample to a hundredth or less of the cost of conventional sampling procedures. So, statisticians study various types of methods for designing sample surveys and experiments (selecting the sample) and attempt to find the method that will yeild a specified amount of information at minimum cost.

Their second concern is selecting the appropriate method of inference for a given sample sureys or experimental design. Some of these methods are good, some are bad, and some seem to be best for most occasions. It is the statisticains’s job to choose the appropriate method for a given situation

Statisticians and anyone can devise a method to make inferences based on the sample data, but the major contribution of statistician’s is the ability to evaluate the "goodness" of the inference.

Jobs That Use Statistics

Statistics is everywhere, you will rarely go to a place of employment and not see statistics working in the environment. For example, in court trials they are using probabiltiy and statistical inference in evaluating the quality of evidence. As for the business world, sample data are used to forecast sales and profit, and for the social, biological, and physical sciences is essential because all the science make use of observation to develop and test new theories. So, statistics play a big part in all aspect of the business, science and industry environment, so if one is going to be employed in one of those areas it is useful to know the basic concepts, strengths and limitation of statistics.

Current Applications Used in Statistics

The Food Crisis: A Search for Additional Food Supplies

We are all aware of the problem of the millions of people who are suffering from malnutrition or dying from starvation. Whether it be from recent droughts, bad crops or countries that do not have the ability to provide for themselves, it is evident that something needs to be done. That is when statistics comes to play.

As stated in Understanding Statistics, it has been estimated that the seas currently supply approximately 13 percent of our total animal-protein intake per year. Ronald F. Smith of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that the seas could be used to feed almost half (1.5 billion) of the world’s population. One way to increase the world protein intake from the seas is to develop sea farming. Aquaculture, as it is called, involves farming of various fish varieties from spawn until maturity and growth of microorganisms (plankton) which serve as food for fish.

^{These developments will make use of experimentation to determine the best procedures for harvesting ocean food resources. Statisticians will assist in the design of experiments and surveys and in the interpretation of research data. So statistics will be used to help determine the effectiveness of such programs in terms of the increases in fish and plankton yields and to evaluate the economic feasibility of aqualculture.}