Communicating Statistical Findings to Consulting Clients Operating in a Decisionmaking Climate: Best and Worst Practices

• Activity Number: 285
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 5, 2014 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Consulting
• Author(s): Michael Greene*+ and John H. Schuenemeyer*+ and Ralph M. Turner*+ and MaryJo O. Smith*+
• Companies: and Southwest Statistical Consulting and HealthCore and Ypsilon Associates
• Keywords: statistical consulting ; communication ; clients ; best practices ; worst practices

Abstract

As consultants, we know that the bottom line in statistical consulting is effectively communicating statistical findings to our clients. No matter how good our communication skills may be during the consulting process or how outstanding the quality of our work, if we cannot communicate the meaning, implications and limitations of our findings to our clients, all is lost. This session will emphasize best/worst practices for communicating statistical findings to clients with reference to real-world examples. By being exposed to a continuum of communication practices, the participants in this session will develop a good sense of the processes they need to adopt in order to assist their clients to digest statistical findings in a way that facilitates dissemination of information and decision-making. These processes include: eliciting the level of statistical sophistication of the clients, developing an awareness of the decision-making climate in which the clients operate, finding the right balance between simplicity and complexity when presenting results to clients and developing a reliable set of templates for the construction of graphs, tables, presentations and statistical reports.