Career prospects as ‘Statistician’

A statistician collects data for everything, right from Virat’s cricket batting averages, stock market fluctuations, pollution levels compared to other cities, and after demonetization affect , everyone has gone to collect data on how much money is in circulation, how many ATMs are functioning, how long it will take to print out new notes etc. The world is becoming more and more quantitative and data focused. Whatever information you may have, there are statistics to back it.

For instance in recent cricket match between India and England held in Chennai, India win because of data analysis.

l Over 15 years, data analysts from Chennai have dominated the field of sports.

l Performance analysts work with athletes behind the scenes to help them assess past games and devise strategies to clinch a win.
l Analysts collect data and videos through different applications, based on the findings prepare strategies and analysis to tackle and opposition team.
l Analyze strengths and weakness of the players in opponent teams.
l The analyst’s report helps coaches and players in strategizing their matches.
l During IPL auctions, data analysts prepare a report for the franchises with a list of best players.
l Every match strategy of India is backed by strong data culled by analysts.

This shows how statistics essentially involves in putting mathematics to scientific use in the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of masses of numerical data. Statistics is the study of the collection, organisation, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. Statistics plays a significant role in every field of human activity. Statistics has important role in determining the existing position of per capita income, unemployment, population growth rate, housing, medical facilities etc. in a country.

Different areas of statistics include crime statistics, census statistics, ecological statistics, medical statistics, statistics on education, film statistics, cricket statistics, oil statistics, market statistics, accident statistics, labour statistics, population statistics, election statistics, district-city-state statistics, tourism statistics etc. so application of statistics is very wide.

While collection of data is no small task, interpreting and presenting it requires special skills. Hence astatistician needs to undergo fundamental training in analytical aspects. A statistician’s role is to give life to data.

l Statistics is indispensable in this modern age aptly termed as “the age of planning”.

l Statistical data and techniques of statistical analysis are immensely useful in solving economic problems such as wages, price, time series analysis, demand analysis.

l It is an irreplaceable tool of production.

Responsibilities of a statistician:

l Collecting information
l Developing newer and more efficient methods of collecting data
l Organizing data
l Developing newer methods to analyze the information.
l Statisticians are heavily involved in the development of products and quality factors.
l Statisticians work for automobile, pharmaceutical, or computer software companies in trial testing and product evaluation.
l Statisticians also involved with the manufacturing, asset, liability, and risk management, and marketing departments of firms.

There are some important fields in which statistics is commonly applied.

Mathematics:

l Statistics is branch of applied mathematics.
l It plays a central role in almost all natural and social sciences.
l Statistics helps in drawing conclusions and measurements more precisely.

Banking:
l Statistics play an important role in banking.
l Banks make use of statistics for several purposes.
l Banks work on the principle that all the people, who deposit their money with the banks, do not withdraw it at the same time.

State Management:
l Statistics is essential for a country.
l Different policies of the government are based on statistics.
l Statistical data are now widely used in taking all administrative decisions.
l Statisticians hired to evaluate population, demographic, and economic measurements.
l Statisticians use sampling techniques determine sizes of populations, unemployment rate, literacy levels, malnutrition numbers, dowry deaths and other sociological issues.
l To revise the pay scales of government employees, statistical methods will be used to determine the rise in the cost of living.

Accounting and Auditing:
l Accounting is impossible without exactness.
l Based on statistics, decision is taken.
l Sampling techniques are employed in auditing.
l An auditor determines the sample size of the book to be audited based on error.

Natural and Social Sciences:
l Statistics plays a vital role in almost all the natural and social sciences.
l Statistical methods are used for analyzing the experiments’ results, testing their significance in Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Meteorology, and Research studies of commerce, Sociology, Business, Public Administration, Communication and Information Technology etc.

Astronomy:
l Astronomy deals with the measurement of distance, sizes, masses and densities of heavenly bodies by means of observations.
l Probable measurements are arrived at by using statistical methods.
l In olden days astronomers used statistical methods for finding the movements of stars and the distance of the moon from the earth.

Medicine:
l The job of Medical statisticians involves monitoring and surveillance of diseases and health patterns of the sample under study.
l It involves establishing the cause of disease or the factors associated with disease and death as well as analyzing studies to determine if new drugs and medical devices are safe and effective for pharmaceutical companies, medical research centres, or the Food and Drug departments.

Agriculture & Environment
l In the field of agriculture and agri-business, statisticians analyze data from agricultural experiments to increase productivity and yield.
l Statisticians also evaluate the environmental impact of air, water, and soil pollutants at a research laboratory, commercial environmental clean-up firm.

SKILLS REQUIRED
l Statisticians must possess good IT skills, numerical skills, and analytical skills.
l Statisticians able to assess results, analyse trends, applying statistical methodology to complex data.
l Statisticians need to be flexible and have a curious and disciplined mind.
l It is very important to have a good background in computers as statisticians use computers extensively.
l Statisticians should also have intellectual creativity, attention to detail, problem-solving skills, logic, and ability to take decisions independently.

SCOPE
l Students with a degree in Statistics are eligible to apply for various jobs in Banking, IT, Quality control etc.
l Students even take up Actuarial Science as a specialization and join in various financial and share trading companies.
l Candidates with good flair and knowledge in Statistics are in huge demand in the present scenario.
l A student with Masters or Ph.D. in Statistics can apply for jobs such as business analyst, statistics lecturer, professor etc.
l They can also go for jobs like software engineer, investigative officer, statistics analyst, researcher etc.

Statisticians can work as
• Econometrician
• Statistician
• Research Analyst
• Biostatistician
• Biometrician
• Epidemiologist
• Data Scientist
• Sports Statistician
• Medical Statistician

Jobs in
Government Sector
l Most government organizations and agencies hire statisticians to evaluate population, demographic, and economic measurements.
l Many other environmental, scientific, and agricultural agencies hire statisticians for similar type of work in their respective fields.
l Even national defence organizations hire statisticians to assess weapons and strategy effectiveness.
l UPSC carries out entrance exam as to recruit candidates to the Indian Statistical Services.
l Staff Selection Committee also carries out a recruitment process as to appoint eligible candidates into the Statistical Investigators post.
l Private sector also requires qualified Statisticians in the Insurance, IT and software fields.
l Some of the most renowned global Statistical organizations are Euro-stat, IAOS, OECD, PARIS21 and UNESCO.

- Gudipati Rajendera Kumar