Role Play for Training Effective Statistical Leadership, Communication, and Collaboration

Oregon Convention Center 

Room: CC-E145 

Imagine that while meeting with a domain expert, you as a statistical collaborator are asked to perform what seems like research misconduct. How do you approach the rest of the meeting? Do you ask the researcher to leave? How do power, politics, and experiential imbalance impact the interaction? Navigating such difficult scenarios in real time, especially for the first time, can be agonizing and even career-altering. However, even the hardest conversation can be fun, instructive, and engaging, so long as it is kept hypothetical. This safe environment for practicing interactions is the promise of role play. Gaming tough scenarios out with peers via role play will render you better prepared when that difficult conversation actually occurs.

Role play is an underused but highly effective tool for teaching how to succeed as a statistical collaborator with broad applicability. This panel will discuss the myriad of benefits associated with using role play for training statisticians of all experience levels (e.g., high school students up to mid-career and senior practitioners) in developing essential collaborative skills. Panelists will share their experiences using role play in their teaching and training programs, and they will offer advice on how to design and implement effective role-playing exercises. Attendees will learn how role play can be implemented to train more self-sufficient, confident, and successful statisticians. Panelists will also provide recommendations for making role playing accessible to even the most introverted among us. These exercises can support the development of a statistician's ability to clearly articulate their ideas, listen actively, ask clarifying questions, build rapport with domain expert collaborators, negotiate effectively, manage expectations, practice ethically, and navigate conflict. Panelists will showcase interactive role-play exercises based on real-world scenarios that statistical consultants face, followed by a question-and-answer session.

This session will be of interest to a diverse audience, providing participants with a valuable opportunity to learn about the benefits of using role play to teach and practice communication skills in a supportive environment. The panelists include several prominent statisticians who use role play for statistical consulting training. Julia Sharp and Emily Griffith have produced popular videos that have become mainstays in statistical consulting curricula nationally, and have developed an ASA short course on navigating tough conversations. In collaboration with them, Ryan Peterson has developed the Statistical Consulting Training Repository (statCTR), which collects and indexes simulated statistical consulting scenarios alongside other helpful resources. Heather Smith is a dedicated and renowned educator of statistical consulting who emphasizes the use of role play to train communication, ethical and professional considerations, and the challenges of working with non-statisticians. Mario Davidson co-directs a statistical collaboration course that utilizes role play, project-based and case-based learning, and has co-taught an ethical reasoning short course. Alex Hanlon directs the Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science and has developed curriculum in post-graduate training of statistical consulting skills. The combined experience and pedological dedication of these panelists will ensure a successful and engaging invited JSM panel.

Yes

Section on Statistical Consulting

Section on Statistics and Data Science Education

Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences