Day in the life
A Day in the Life of a Statistician
What statisticians actually do from the start of a shift to the end: the tasks, tools, schedule and realities of the job.
What is a typical day like for a statistician?
Review a clinical trial protocol. From there, the day usually includes design studies, choose methods, and analyze data. Full-time business hours.
Hour by hour: a typical shift
No two days are identical, but this timeline reflects a realistic day for a statistician working full time.
- Review a clinical trial protocol.
- Calculate sample size.
- Clean data.
- Run a regression model.
- Check assumptions.
- Meet researchers.
- Write the analysis plan.
Where statisticians work
Statisticians work in offices for pharma, government, universities and companies; many work remotely.
Hours and schedule
Full-time business hours.
Tasks you’ll do most often
- Design studies
- Choose methods
- Analyze data
- Build models
- Check assumptions
- Write reports
- Explain results
Tools you’ll use every day
- R
- SAS
- Python
- SQL
- Stata
- Tableau
The best and hardest parts of the job
What people like
- Much faster-than-average growth
- High pay
- Remote options
- Work on important questions
What’s hard
- Master’s usually needed
- Explaining uncertainty
- Messy data
- Deadline pressure
You’ll likely thrive if…
- I love data
- I’m skeptical of easy answers
- I can code
- I like research
- I want fast growth
- I’m willing to do grad school
Not sure? Take the free Statistician fit quiz or the Career Match Quiz.
Staying safe on the job
- Protect patient data
- Follow research ethics
- Avoid p-hacking
- Disclose limitations