Statistician

What does a Statistician do?
Statistics is a discipline yhat is concerned with; designing experiments and other data collection, summarising information to aid understanding, drawing conclusions from data, and estimating the present or predicting the future.
In making predictions, Statistics uses the companion field of probability, which models chance mathematically and enables calculations of chance in complicated cases.
Why does a Statistician do this?
Today, statistics has become an important tool in the work of many academic disciplines, such as medicine, psychology, education, sociology, engineering and physics, just to name a few. Statistics is also important in many aspects of society, such as business, industry and government. Because of the increasing use of statistics in so many areas of our lives, it has become very desirable to understand and practice statistical thinking. This is important even if you do not use statistical methods directly.
One advantage of working in statistics is that you can combine your interest with almost any other field in science, technology or business.
How does a Statistician do their job?
Statistics provides the reasoning and methods for producing and understanding data. Statisticians are specialists, but statistics demands they be generalists too.
Statistics uses mathematics, but it is not abstract or isolated. Statisticians work with people from other professions to solve practical problems. Statistics uses modern computing to organise and analyse data, and Statisticians command specialised tools. But the emphasis is on the data to be understood and the problem to be solved, rather than on computing for its own sake.
Statisticians must know more than statistics. A Statistician who works in medicine, or in a manufacturing plant, or in market research must learn enough medicine or engineering or marketing to understand the data in their setting. Statisticians need the ability to work with other people, to listen and to communicate.
Where do Statisticians do their work?
Statisticians may work by themselves, but they usually work in a team. The team may include specialists from various fields, as well as clerical and computing staff involved in data collection and analysis.
Minimum degree required
A Bachelor of Science with a major in Mathematics and Statistics.
Statisticians may benefit from a strong background in computer science. Many different areas are useful for statisticians depending on their desired job outcome. For example, studies of chemistry, biology or health science can be helpful for testing products. A major in applied mathematics is also useful for a statistician.
Average salary per year
The average annual salary for this job is $70 616 excluding super.
Job outlook
There is currently a very marked shortage of professional Statisticians across a range of disciplines in Australia. The hottest areas are biostatistics/bioinformatics and financial modelling, but more traditional areas such as survey designs are also feeling the pinch. Advertisements for Biostatisticians have been unfilled for a long time. The methodology division of the Bureau of Statistics reports that the output of honours graduates in statistics is no longer sufficient to fill its annual recruitment needs. The need for Statisticians is more recognised than ever before in Australia, and there are far more employment opportunities.
Professional profiles
- Australian Bureau of Statistics Graduate Profiles
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics Careers
Related occupations
Mathematical Statistician, Epidemiologist, Applied Statistician, Biostatistician.
Some companies that employ graduates
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