FREQUENTLY-ASKED
QUESTIONS
STATISTICS
AND STATISTICS (SPECIALISATION IN BIOSTATISTICS & IN
FINANCE AND BUSINESS STATISTICS)
Q1. What is statistics?
Statistics is the scientific
application of mathematical principles to the collection,
analysis, and presentation of numerical data. Statisticians
contribute to scientific inquiry by applying their mathematical
and statistical knowledge to the design of surveys and experiments;
the collection, processing, and analysis of data; and the
interpretation of the results. Statisticians may apply their
knowledge of statistical methods to a variety of subject
areas, such as biology, economics, engineering, medicine,
public health, psychology, marketing, education, and sports.
Q2. What is biostatistics?
Biostatistics is a specialization
of statistics for quantitative research in the health sciences.
The designs and analytic methods of biostatistics enable
health scientists and professionals in academia, government,
pharmaceutical companies, medical research organizations
and elsewhere to efficiently acquire knowledge and draw
valid conclusions from their ever-expanding sources of information.
Their sources of information includes public health studies
on epidemiology, nutrition and environment, clinical trials
in medicine, genomics, population genetics, biological sequence
analysis and ecology.
Q3. What’s
the difference between statistics and mathematics?
Mathematics deals with numbers,
curves, surfaces, figures, images, etc in all their generalities,
ranging from the most abstract theories to the most concrete
methods and algorithms, whereas statistics deals with the
collection and analysis of data and information in surveys,
experiments, databases etc in order to reach conclusions
or decide on a suitable course of action.
Q4. If I do not
have A-level mathematics, can I still major in statistics?
Yes, you may still do a
major in statistics. You could read the bridging module
MA1301 Introductory Mathematics to help you to attain the
A-level mathematics standard before you embark on a major
in statistics.
Q5. What are
the career opportunities for statistics graduates?
The world is becoming more
and more quantitative and data focused. Many professions,
organisations and businesses depend on numerical measurements
to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. Therefore,
statistics graduates may look forward to being employed
as statisticians in government, medical and pharmaceutical
industry, manufacturing and engineering companies, banking
and financial institutions, research and tertiary institutions.
Further, there are many jobs that do not bear the word "statistician"
but will rely much on the knowledge and training that you
can acquire from studying statistics at NUS. Some of these
are business analyst, quality assurance engineer, pharmaceutical
engineer, marketing professional, financial analyst, banking
executive, telecommunication executive, actuary, data analyst,
risk analyst.
Q6. Where can I
find out more information about studying statistics at NUS?
Department of Statistics and Applied Probability
http://www.stat.nus.edu.sg
Q7. Where
can I find out more information about statistics and its
career prospects in general?
US Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics,
Occupational Outlook Handbook http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos045.htm
Careers website of the Royal Statistical
Society - http://www.rss.org.uk/main.asp?page=1999
Careers in Statistics website of the American
Statistical Association http://www.amstat.org/careers/index.cfm?fuseaction=brochure
Statistics Jobs in Australia and New Zealand
- http://www.statsci.org/jobs/index.html
