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Research and Publication in Statistics

Research and Publication in Statistics. Bill Woodall Virginia Tech bwoodall@vt.edu. My research experience. Past Editor of JQT Associate Editor of Technometrics for eight years Nineteen Ph.D. students Seventy research papers, with five winning awards

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Research and Publication in Statistics

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  1. Research and Publication in Statistics Bill Woodall Virginia Tech bwoodall@vt.edu

  2. My research experience • Past Editor of JQT • Associate Editor of Technometrics for eight years • Nineteen Ph.D. students • Seventy research papers, with five winning awards • Reviewer for over 50 journals, funding agencies, and universities outside the U. S.

  3. Research is original work that increases the body of knowledge.

  4. What is research in statistics: • Determining properties of existing methods; comparing the performance of methods. • Generalizing methods or results to new situations (e.g., weakening assumptions). • Developing new and/or improved methods or performance criteria. • Showing relationships between existing methods or results. • Improving computational efficiency. • Using results in one area to solve problems in another.

  5. If someone has already published your ideas, your work may not count.

  6. The contribution of a research project can vary widely … from incremental to fundamental.

  7. What may be research in statistics: • Review papers • Case studies • Interdisciplinary work in other fields • Chapters in books • Monographs

  8. What isn’t research in statistics: • Straightforward case study applications in other fields • Articles on effective teaching or consulting • Descriptions of how to use statistics written to anyone other than other statisticians • Book reviews • Lower-level textbooks

  9. How do you find a Ph.D. research topic?Put 100+% into all courses, especially the 6000 level seminar courses.Talk to potential Ph.D. advisors and current Ph.D. students.

  10. Tips on doing research: • Question everything. • Use indices (e.g., Current Index of Statistics and Web of Science, MathSci database) to do thorough literature reviews. • Study all past closely-related work very carefully. • Work on developing “big picture”. • Meet regularly with advisor. • Be aggressive and be skeptical of others’ work.

  11. Tips on doing research (cont’d): • If appropriate for your topic, write journal articles as you do your dissertation research. Use papers as chapters in your dissertation. • Expect ups and downs. • Keep and file copies of relevant papers. • It is much easier to maintain a research program in one area of statistics and gradually branch out.

  12. Tips on doing research (cont’d): • Pick an area of statistics you like and that shows promise for the future. • Present your work at meetings. Get to know other researchers in your area. • Solve the simple problems first. • Be prepared for delayed gratification. • Remember that after being solved, all problems look easy! • Live and breathe your research.

  13. After reading a research paper, ask the following questions: (see Narula (1974)) • Are the results correct? • Can the results be improved, modified, extended or generalized? • Can some of the assumptions be relaxed? • Is the optimality or performance criterion reasonable? • In an alternative formulation of the problem possible? • Are there alternative solutions based on other techniques?

  14. “Research without publication is recreation.” I. J. Good

  15. Tips on writing and publication: • Aim for a highly ranked journal. • Recognize that writing is hard work. • Write your paper so that it is understandable to others. • Check for typos and other miner errors. • Write, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, …. Most authors submit their papers too soon. On the other hand, some submit theirs too late or not at all.

  16. Tips on publication (cont’d): • Make sure all relevant literature is considered and cited. • Depending on the journal, consider putting detailed mathematics in an appendix. • Define all notation as it is used. • Point out limitations of your work.

  17. Publication and Review Process • Procedures vary by journal. • Most journal editors will screen articles. Some are sent to an Associate Editor (AE). AE could reject the paper or send it to two referees. • Review process may be double-blind. • Decision letter is sent to you with reports. • You may be encouraged to “revise and resubmit” or you must revise and submit to another journal (i.e., your paper is rejected).

  18. Publication and Review Process (cont’d) • With resubmitted revision, you should respond carefully, politely, and point-by-point to each comment of reviewers. • Two to three iterations of review are usually required before a paper is accepted. • Make a legitimate effort to significantly improve your paper at each step of the review process. • Unfortunately, each review iteration may take several months.

  19. Keys for publication in “applied” journals: • Show practical value of your results. • Clarify your contribution. Demonstrate knowledge of relevant work. • Adequately demonstrate improvements and claims. Performance of any proposed method must be compared to that of the best existing method. Case study justification is not enough. • Write at the appropriate mathematical level.

  20. Use English good. • Use the format specified by, or typically used in, the journal. • Adequately describe simulation results. Someone should be able to duplicate your simulations. Give standard errors.

  21. Research Expectations in Academia • Papers must be in good journals. • No one is given the precise expectations to receive tenure. • Two papers a year in good journals is generally considered excellent. • Considerable weight is placed on outside review of research by several experts. • Citations count. • There is increasing pressure to obtain outside funding.

  22. Rewards for being good researcher • Travel to meetings • Positive feedback from others • Grant money and a higher salary • Lowered teaching duties • Freedom to work on projects of your choice • Opportunity to work with graduate students and others • Chance to have fun solving problems • Satisfaction of contributing to knowledge

  23. Research can be challenging, exciting and fun.

  24. References • Hamada, M. and Sitter, R. (2004), “Statistical Research: Some Advice for Beginners”, American Statistician 58, pp. 93-101. • Narula, S. C. (1974), “Systematic Ways to Identify Research Problems in Statistics”, International Statistical Review, 42, pp. 205-209. • Smith, W. B. (2002), “Publication is as EASY as C-C-C”, AMSTAT News, September, pp. 23-25.

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