Does Every Good Analytical Chemist Need to Be a Statistician?

Tools that make analysis easier

I read trade publications that cover everything from banking to biotech, looking for interesting perspectives on data analysis and statistics, especially where they pertain to quality improvement.

Recently I read a great blog post by Tony Taylor, an analytical chemist with a background in pharmaceuticals. In it, he discusses the implications of the FDA's updated guidance for industry analytical procedures and methods validation. His audience comprises analytical chemists and pharmaceutical researchers, people who are technologically savvy and adept at solving problems. The kind of people you’d imagine are very capable and eager to collect some data and figure out what they mean.

Or maybe not.

What Taylor’s post makes clear is that even a highly educated, scientifically inclined audience like this doesn’t necessarily appreciate the value of statistical analysis—or at least, doesn’t really enjoy actually doing it.

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Comments

Statistics a buzzword

I believe you will find this symptom in every industry. In the auto industry, I feel we should be pioneers of analytical techniques, but I am one of two engineers at my company that realize the deep importance of DOE and Anova in industrial applications. Does every chemist, social statistician, or engineer need to be a good statistician? No, I don't think so, but do they need the philosophical desire to use statistics in conjunction with improvement and management systems? Yes. I think Minitab does most of the heavy plugging and chugging for you these days, but the philosophical foundation of statistics as a powerful process control tool is as lost as a buzzword.

I have a theory that buzzwords (statistics included) lose their meaning the further into an organization they travel. The first person to use them is knowlegdeable, but as they travel through diffferent ears and brains (similar to the Kindergarten telephone game), it loses its meaning to the recipient on the other end.

I apologize for the pessimism on your post. On the flip side, you are in a perfect position to bring your peers to your level and bring your company to a new level, just like my team mate and I are perpetually optimistic that we can change our surroundings by being perpetually optimistic about the power of engineering methodology.