Online Program

Effective Statistical Consulting: A Framework for Overcoming Communication Barriers in the Collaboration (304200)

Keywords: statistical consulting, communication, scaffolding, statistical handbook

Statistical consulting is an inherently collaborative endeavor that brings together the expertise of the statistician and the disciplinary researcher, and involves the effective communication of ideas from both disciplines. However, the client’s lack of familiarity with the complexities and limitations of statistical methodologies, and the statistician’s lack of disciplinary knowledge about the scientific context of the research project, can lead to significant barriers to successful communication. In our talk we present a framework developed as part of a collaboration with dentistry researchers to overcome these barriers by improving the communication between client and statistician through the use of scaffolding materials for the collaboration. In particular, we underscore the value of producing a concise, field-specific online handbook that illustrates the use of pertinent statistical methods in the context of examples taken from research papers in the client’s field. This approach encourages lasting statistical consulting relationships with collaborators and has the potential to lead to further collaborations with other researchers who become familiar with the online materials.