Using Statistical Engineering to Attack Large, Complex, Unstructured Problems

• Activity Number: 199
• Type: Roundtables
• Date/Time: Monday, August 5, 2013 : 12:30 PM to 1:50 PM
• Sponsor: Quality and Productivity Section
• Author(s): Roger W. Hoerl*+
• Companies: GE Global Research
• Keywords: Kaggle.com ; Leadership ; Problem Solving

Abstract

This discussion will focus on enhancing the ability of statisticians to use statistical engineering to solve large, complex, unstructured problems encountered in business, industry, and government. Such ability can enable statisticians to move beyond the traditional paradigm of passive consulting and exhibit true technical leadership to their organizations. Statistical engineering has been defined as "The study of how to best utilize statistical concepts, methods, and tools and integrate them with information technology and other relevant sciences to generate improved results." By developing the discipline of how to integrate multiple statistical tools in innovative ways to solve complex problems, statistical engineering complements and enhances statistical science---the in-depth study of individual statistical methods. While routine statistical consulting is often done in the lowest-cost countries today, or the basis of open online competitions through websites such as kaggle.com, statistical engineering provides a framework to attack large, complex, unsolved problems, which appear to be a key aspect of the future of the statistics profession.