What Rewards May a Statistician Expect?

Abstract

It is logical to expect that a statistician or a potential statistician belongs to a category or pool of individuals who have certain common characteristics which would make possible a number of alternative choices of professions or scientific fields. In particular, a rational choice of statistics as a vocation would imply that the individual belongs to a pool of individuals with aptitude for analytical and quantitative pursuits. But this pool of individuals is the same pool from which emerges, for example, the mathematicians and computing scientists as well as scientists and investigators who are more interested in the methods of quantitative analysis than in the facts or specific body of knowledge of a particular scientific discipline. There is another very important type of statistician or potential statistician, who still has some of the aptitudes of those in the pool described above but in addition has aptitudes for directing or managing large scale data collection and analysis projects. These individuals, as regards these additional aptitudes, have much in common with managers or potential managers in areas that are not necessarily specifically statistical in nature. In view of the above, it would appear reasonable to assume that a particular individual in the pool described above might logically consider the following alternative vocational choices: pure or applied mathematics, the theory of operations research, theoretical or mathematical statistics, the theory of numerical analysis and computing science, or a science that is highly mathematical in nature. Another particular individual, still in the pool but with some variation in aptitudes, might logically consider the following alternative vocational choices: applied statistics and/or statistical methods, applied numerical analysis and computing science, applied operations research, or the methodological aspects of some science. Further, another particular individual, still with aptitudes for quantitative investigations but also possessing aptitudes for management, might consider one of the following vocational choices: a position in business, industry or government involving management of large scale data collection and analysis projects, general management positions, or a university position managing the operational work of a survey sampling institute. In the light of the above variety of choices, what non-monetary and monetary rewards may an individual, from the above described pool, expect in case he has become a statistician or should decide to become a statistician? Let us attempt to answer this question by considering in turn these two kinds of rewards which a statistician may reasonably expect. 2. Non-monetary Rewards