Statistics SIG: identifying and addressing issues within statistics support

Abstract

The Special Interest Group (SIG) in Statistics Support maintained by the sigma Network for excellence in mathematics and statistics support held a discussion workshop at the CETL-MSOR conference 2018. This was focused on identifying and addressing issues within statistics support and facilitated a very interesting and valuable sharing of experiences and suggestions for good practice in the provision of statistics support. Discussions were primarily focused on the limitations and scope of statistics support, and in particular the following issues were discussed: supporting student with statistics software, understanding the remit of statistics support, supporting students with choosing statistical techniques, as well as a short discussion on raising awareness of statistics support and evidencing its impact. One key action arising from the workshop was the proposal to run a workshop on statistics software.