Методы статистического консалтинга

Магистратура 2025/2026

Статус: Курс обязательный (Аналитика данных и прикладная статистика / Data Analytics and Social Statistics)

Когда читается: 2-й курс, 1 модуль

Охват аудитории: для своего кампуса

Преподаватели: Гаврилов Константин Валерьевич, Моисеев Станислав Павлович

Язык: английский

Кредиты: 3

Контактные часы: 20

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Abstract

This course introduces students to statistical consulting as a professional practice: how analytical work is sold, scoped, managed and defended in business, educational, medical, financial and industrial settings. Rather than adding new statistical methods, it addresses the layer that determines whether technically correct work creates value — understanding who buys analytics and why, translating a client's problem into an answerable question, writing a proposal with a defensible scope and price, planning a project under uncertainty and limited resources, and presenting findings so that they lead to a decision. The course combines lectures with seminars devoted to hands-on work: reformulating briefs, drafting proposal fragments, structuring pitches and reports, and handling objections. The larger part of the workload is a practical consulting case, carried out from the initial brief to the final delivered artifacts and discussed collectively in class. Students also map their own competence profile across the four skill areas expected of a consultant — scientific, statistical, computational and communicational — and identify their development priorities. Because statistical consulting requires the integration and applied use of material from across the statistics curriculum, the course serves as a capstone for the MS program in Applied Statistics and provides an opportunity to assess key student outcomes.

Learning Objectives

Give students a working understanding of statistical consulting as an economic and organizational activity, not only a technical one.
Enable students to design, scope, manage and complete a consulting project from the initial brief to delivered results.
Develop the ability to communicate analytical work to non-technical decision-makers and to defend it under scrutiny.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Be able to design tables and plots that increase clarity and understanding, create effective slides and oral presentation, write a study protocol.
Be able to identify subject matter questions and translate into statistical language. Ask good questions and restate answers to ensure understanding.
Be able to verbally explain statistical concepts.
Be able to write a statistical analysis report
Be able to write the background, goals, and study design section of a proposal or report.
Have an ability to run an effective collaboration meeting, use video and other tools to improve meeting and collaboration.
Have the skill to design and complete a consulting project from start to finish.
Know ethical guidelines specific to statisticians.
Know how to choose a statistical method that is appropriate for answering the client’s question.
Know the principles and guidelines of Responsible Conduct for Research.
Be able to identify a client's subject-matter question, translate it into statistical language, and restate answers to confirm shared understanding.
Be able to apply the "so what" test to distinguish a technically valid result from a decision-relevant one.
Be able to draft the core components of a consulting proposal: background, goals, scope, deliverables, timeline and pricing logic.
Be able to justify a price and position an offer, and to structure a pitch.
Be able to plan time and financial resources for an analytical project and choose between iterative and stage-gate management approaches depending on the level of uncertainty.
Be able to anticipate and respond to client objections about method, data and conclusions.
Have the skill to run a consulting project from start to finish and to reflect on the outcome.

Course Contents

Introduction to statistical consulting
Planning and running the project under uncertainty
Defending the work: reporting, storytelling, objections
Important skills for a professional in statistical consulting
Case study: Work on a practical case and discussion of the results

Assessment Elements

In-class presentation
In-class presentation of the final version of the consulting report for a completed project
Consulting report
Written report on the completed project with specification of all the necessary report sections and indication of resposibilities and contribution of all group members.
Homeworks
2 homeworks on topics 2 and 4 (2*0,2 each)
Peer-reviewing
Anonymous peer-reviewing of at least 1 report of classmates

Interim Assessment

2025/2026 1st module
0.3 * Consulting report + 0.2 * In-class presentation + 0.1 * Peer-reviewing + 0.4 * Homeworks

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Dietmar Fink, & Oded Löwenbein. (2010). A management consulting view on the statistical consulting process. AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis, (1), 105. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10182-009-0119-0

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Centreway Place, Mt Waverley Vic, & Jeremy Rothfield. (2013). Statistical Consulting. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.7514F3BF

Authors

PAVLOVA IRINA ANATOLEVNA

Course Syllabus