Andrew Roberts writes:
I teach political science at Northwestern. I have a book coming out with U of Chicago Press called “The Thinking Student’s Guide to College” and I wanted to ask you a question about one part.
I have a section where I advocate a few “neglected majors”. One of them is statistics. I wrote the following (see below) about statistics, but it seems a little dull to me. I’d be curious if you would add anything that would make the major seem more attractive. (FYI, the other neglected majors are linguistics, regional studies, and sociology).
To fully understand just about any phenomenon in the world, from atoms to people to countries, you need a grasp of statistics. Statistics teaches you how to measure quantities, collect data, and then draw inferences from that information. Though this might sound boring, these tasks are necessary to explain most of the forces affecting our lives, whether the workings of markets, the movement of public opinion, or the spread of disease. Not only does a statistics major give you the skills to answer these questions, it is also extremely marketable. There is hardly a firm which could not benefit from a trained statistician, and statisticians are just as desirable for public interest groups hoping to help the disadvantaged. And if you worry that you are not the math type, statistics is considerably less demanding than a pure math major and does more to help you understand the real world in all its complexities.
“Considerably less demanding than a pure math major,” huh? OK, OK . . .
My main suggestion would be to be less apologetic. No need to say “Though this might sound boring”!
Perhaps some of you have specific suggestions for Andrew Roberts for his book?
Statistics isn't half as boring as you might think. In fact it's only 48.7% as boring.
I am no statistician, but when I took my first statistics class (for my MBA), it was as if scales fell from my eyes. It made me wish I could go back in time and be a statistics major!
So, given this, here is one reason why students should consider majoring in statistics–it will make you see the world in an entirely different way. Once you encounter data, and probability, and randomness in a serious way, it's hard to imagine ever seeing things–society, economics, nature–the same way again.
Far from being boring, I find it constantly exciting, especially at this point in history when there is simply so much data freely available to analyze for anyone with the appropriate skills. (This proliferation of data is one reason analysts will be increasingly valuable, I believe.)
Why not actually talk about some of the diverse questions that statistics can answer? Political Science to Medicine, Business to Biology… one could quote results from papers that rely on sophisticated statistical methodology or are co-authored by statisticians. And yes, talk about randomness. Don't say boring!
Nb: not saying undergrads will be excited by published papers, but pose a few questions that derive from the literature. Something along the lines of: How do netflix recommendations work? How do we know a new medicine is safe? Do certain professions really have more daughters than sons? Do voters in presidential elections respond to attack advertising? And how reliable are opinion polls anyway?
Everyone trying to drum up interest in statistics lately quotes Hal Varian, chief economist at Google:
“I keep saying that the sexy job in the next 10 years will be statisticians. And I’m not kidding.”
This recent New York Times article should provide lots of ideas on how to spice things up:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/technology/06st…
I'd say "pointless" instead of "demanding".
For a sales pitch to undergrads, it might be useful to emphasize that (individual) statisticians get to work in a wide variety of fields – very attractive to the non-committal.
But I disagree about "considerably less demanding". The problems that require a trained statistician are often subtle, and difficult.
I like the general tone, but I would also change "considerably less demanding". Perhaps "considerably more applied" or "considerably more practically-minded"?
"statisticians are just as desirable for public interest groups hoping to help the disadvantaged"
Are there a lot of statisticians working in this area?
(note: not academics studying this area, but people employed full time for public interest groups hoping to help the disadvantaged)
Want to see the order in chaos? Want to find the meaning in emptiness? Do you have a yearning desire to see the invisible hand?
STATISTICS! Odds are, you'll like it.
I strongly agree with freddy above – keeping as many doors open as possible, while earning a highly marketable degree, was a key factor in my decision to get my B.S. in Statistics.
As suggested by a few others above, I think including a variety of examples of the kinds of questions statisticians can answer is another important point to make. By the time I was working on my Ph.D. I had moved to relative outskirts of the field (public health, social justice, human rights) and often got surprised reactions to the suggestion that there was work for a statistician in those fields. But there's work in just about any area you could think of. Undergrads may not yet be trained to recognize those problems, but a handful of prompting questions might get them to consider the field more seriously.
* there are lots of good reasons in Xiao-Li's editorial: http://www.stat.harvard.edu/Academics/invitation_…
* since it is a much less common major than econ or applied math, yet stat students are desired at many of the same jobs, it can be a good way to stand out from the crowd.
* statistician consistently ranks near the top of lists of job satisfaction (of course, the issues with and construction of such lists is itself an interesting statistical problem); actuary usually ranks very high too, and a stat degree is ideal preparation for that too.
* randomness and uncertainty are everywhere! Tukey's famous quote ("The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard") contrasts completely with the suggestion that it is a "boring" subject.
Instead of the negative sounding comment about mathematics, you might want to suggest that people considering other majors put some thought into statistics. People who are considering physics, economics or computer science (for example) may not have had as much exposure to statistics and may actually prefer a field with broader application (as mentioned numerous times above.)
Quite simply, there's nothing more exciting than letting data tell its story. These stories are more rich and varied than you could ever imagine. As a statistician, you will be able to collaborate with people from any field imaginable, as long as they are happy to work with numbers.
I think you have to major in what engages you.
If you're doing anything remotely technical, you'll have a huge advantage with a solid foundation in applied stats and computer science. You should be able to analyze (large) data sets effectively using your mad skillz.
You'll need math through matrices, the core math stats course, an applied stats modeling course (e.g. regression), and the basic programming sequence for CS majors (don't skimp on doing the hardcore versions of these — that'll be what gives you an advantage over your peers who learned some Perl scripting and Matlab).
Remember that careers live or die based on productivity. Ideally, take some seminar/thesis type classes that require planning, executing and documenting larger projects.
See the introduction of, "Statistics: a Very Short Introduction" by David J. Hand for a good discussion on this topic. He talks about how different the field of statistics is from what it was even 20 years ago. i.e., less number crunching, more investigation.
A.G.: "Considerably less demanding than a pure math major," huh?
A.C.: I'd say "pointless" instead of "demanding".
Ok, I wonder how much knowledge or experience is behind these opinions. (I mean that only about one third as snarky as it probably sounds.) As someone with considerable experience in math (Ph.D.) and, well, a little experience in statistics (my current job involves statistical analysis and programming in support of statistical analysis), I would have to say I agree with the original. Of course, that's based on my limited experience, and in any case is just my opinion. (I know the original comment is about college education, not difficulty of work, so my opinion is also based on the undergraduate math and statistics I took and the statistics I've had to study for my job.)
RZ: the negative sounding comment about mathematics
I would bet a lot of people think the original is a negative-sounding comment about statistics.
Anyway, though I agree with the original statement, I wouldn't say I find it agreeable. I think the specific benefit for some students is that statistics will feel less abstract (what the "pointless" was referring to?). I would say something like "And if you worry that you are not the math type because math is too abstract, or doesn't seem tied to real life, statistics is all about real-life situations".
Great suggestions from the commenters (and Andrew too). I will use a lot of them. Thank you all.
As a working scientist I can't help but notice that Statistics is *everywhere*. Every result is formulated probabilistically, or should be (errorbars, anyone?), and advances proceed as evidences in favor of various models/hypotheses are weighed.
If only I (and my colleagues) had been taught Probability Theory instead of the incomprehensible 'Statistics' that we actually get, the quality of reasoning and presentation would improve tremendously.
Absolutely remove the "though this might sound boring". It *won't* sound boring to everyone, but saying that it might raises the idea — thus *making* it seem boring.
There are some people to whom it may sound boring, but let them figure out for themselves that it does.
I am sure mathematics and physics and chemistry and engineering sound boring to lots of people, but plenty of /other/ people still take it up.
If you must have something along that line, try replacing it by something like "While few students begin university with the idea of studying statistics, quite a few find it fascinating and make it their career".
It may have taken me several statistics subjects and several years before I came to find it fascinating, but I certainly did come to be fascinated.