In private industry and colleges and universities, many positions require a graduate degree, often a doctorate, in statistics. Nature of the Work Statistics is a science, applying mathematical tools, involved with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data. Statisticians are the individuals who design surveys and experiments, collect data, and interpret the results. In doing so, they often apply their knowledge of statistical methods to a particular subject area, such as biology, economics, engineering, medicine, or psychology.
Some statisticians develop new statistical methods.
Statisticians typically work with professionals in other fields to solve practical problems. For example, biostatisticians involved in clinical research have developed sequential procedures that minimize patients' exposure to harmful treatment and make beneficial treatments more rapidly accessible. Often statisticians are able to obtain information about a group of people or things by surveying a small portion, called a sample, of the group. For example, to determine the size of the total audience for particular programs, television rating services ask only a few thousand families, rather than all viewers, which programs they watch. Statisticians decide where and how to gather the data, determine the type and size of the sample group, and develop the survey questionnaire or reporting form.