Beyond Consulting: Training to Become an Interdisciplinary Statistical Collaborator

• Activity Number: 284
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Consulting
• Author(s): Marcos Carzolio*+
• Companies: Virginia Tech
• Keywords: International collaboration ; cultural barriers ; data cleaning and preprocessing

Abstract

For a graduate student, the experience of managing and processing data collection while in the field is invaluable. The student's involvement provides a deeper appreciation for understanding of the data. This particular talk will cover the challenges encountered and lessons learned while working on-site for a follow-up observational study in Mozambique. The study seeks to understand the socioeconomic impacts of drilling water wells throughout Mozambican villages. Implementation of this survey involves having a statistician personally train enumerators and clean data while in the field. These measures are in place in order to yield a more reliable dataset. Embedding a graduate student in the field provides the student with the ultimate opportunity for statistical collaboration, as the student faces the additional challenges of language and culture barriers. The goal of such international collaboration is to eventually build statistical capacities in developing nations, but in its current implementation additionally provides invaluable experience to the budding statistician.