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In March 2007, the ASA board approved the formation of the ad hoc committee on accreditation of individual statisticians to define the details
of an accreditation program, such as criteria for granting accreditation and the application process. This is one in a series of articles examining
an accreditation program.
Statistical Accreditation: The Royal
Statistical Society Experience
Martin L. Lee, Adjunct Professor of Biostatistics, UCLA School of Public Health
W
ith the current
discussions regard-
ing the accreditation
of statisticians in the United States
under the auspices of the American
Statistical Association, it is worth
relating the experiences of such pro-
cesses in other professional statistical
societies. I have been a member of the
ASA since 1975, at about the same time
I was finishing my master’s degree in bio-
statistics. The following year, I joined the
Royal Statistical Society (RSS) because of the
opportunity to interact with statisticians
from the United Kingdom, other parts of
Europe, and throughout the world. After
earning my PhD at UCLA in 1979, I was
intrigued by the possibility of receiving a for-
mal accreditation for my profession that
would not only acknowledge my academic
training, but provide potential employers Throughout the last 15 years, I have
with the understanding that I was recognized found this statistical honorific to be valu-
as a professional statistician. However, I was able. On numerous occasions, I have used
not aware of any opportunity at that time. the designation of CStat in presenting
In 1993, after the merger of RSS and the myself in both scholarly circumstances and
Institute of Statisticians, the designation of client interactions. In all instances, this has,
Chartered Statistician (CStat) was offered in my opinion, helped enhance my stature
by the RSS to provide formal recognition of in the view of the individuals I was working
an individual’s statistical qualifications and with. Of course, in many instances, I needed
indicate professional experience and exper- to explain what CStat referred to, but this
tise. Even though I had almost 15 years of only provided me with an opportunity to
experience in both the academic and profes- explain how the RSS accreditation worked
sional worlds by then, I still believed obtain- and what it meant in reference to my ability
ing this designation would be useful in my to perform as a statistician.
continued efforts at advancing my career As we all know, many professions have
and providing my clients with an important varying degrees of accreditation or licens-
indication to my abilities as a statistician. I ing required to formally perform the roles
immediately applied and found the process expected. Given the significant nature of the
straightforward, requiring documentation statistician in the world of research and the
of my academic and practical experiences. impact we have, it only makes sense to have
After review by the RSS, I received the sta- a reasonable accreditation process for our
tus of CStat in July 1993. profession, too. n
OCTOBER 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 11
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