Inspired by this piece which resonated with me and many others, I'm going to run in a little different direction: the challenge of "continuing education" for early- and mid-career faculty in or adjacent to statistics (or basically any field that uses quantitative methods).
I got a Master's degree in Applied Statistics and then a PhD in Epidemiology. The truth is, there wasn't much strategy in the decision - just the opportunities that were there at the time - but Epi seemed like a cool *specific* application of statistics, so on I went
But then, as an early-career faculty member working more as a "statistician" than "epidemiologist" - I've often given myself a hard time for not being a better statistician. I'm not good on theory. I have to think really hard sometimes about what should be pretty basic stuff.
Sometimes I have to just describe the methods as "Uh, I just used PROC MIXED with a RANDOM statement...that's good, right?" and I really hate that I don't have a stronger handle on the theory underlying some of the methods that I use.
Sometimes (okay just about every day) I wonder if I'd be better at this if only I had gotten a doctoral degree in Statistics (or Biostats!) rather than Epi. Did I somehow inadvertently sell myself short?
I know that there were benefits to going through Epi vs. Stats or Biostats though - I have a better intuition for picking up "what is the real study question here" and working with clinical researchers than I would if I'd gone through pure Statistics all the way.
Which brings me to the "okay, enough whining, what do we actually DO about this?" portion of the thread.
For my first few years post-PhD, I scrabbled about but really didn't do a good job with continuing education. I did some haphazard stuff here and there (e.g. "Surgeon wants to write a paper using propensity-score matching...golly gee I guess I had better learn how!")
But for whatever reason I always kind of got in my own way when it came to larger efforts. Never did more than read a blog post or a help page here and there. That was a bit of a failing on my part, and I'm honestly not sure why other than the uncomfortable "BECAUSE I WAS LAZY"
In this respect, getting on Twitter was super helpful, and despite the avalanche of negativity that this can sometimes turn into and the constant "Gosh I think ___ Twitter has finally jumped the shark" it's why I like being here
Now I've got my virtual students and faculty lounge. I can get pointers to helpful papers. I can ask questions and get helpful answers (sometimes, haha).
Feeling somewhat empowered by this, I even realized that I was allowed to, uh, buy books and read them!
Feeling somewhat empowered by this, I even realized that I was allowed to, uh, buy books and read them!
(That last bit is funny, but it's true. I really had never bought a new textbook since finishing school for my first 5-6 years. If you're a rocket surgeon genius, maybe you don't need to, but I accepted that I did, and that was okay)
I bought Statistical Issues in Drug Development and loved it.
I've got Statistical Rethinking with a mind to work my way through it once I can sleep more than four hours a night.
Frank Harrell's BBR lectures have been immensely useful in rethinking some things I thought I knew.
I've got Statistical Rethinking with a mind to work my way through it once I can sleep more than four hours a night.
Frank Harrell's BBR lectures have been immensely useful in rethinking some things I thought I knew.
I still have the "Gosh I don't know nearly as much as I wish I did" on the regular. Like, just about every day.
But I also have a renewed hope, vigor, the acceptance that it's okay not to know *everything* right now, but that I still can learn new things when I try.
But I also have a renewed hope, vigor, the acceptance that it's okay not to know *everything* right now, but that I still can learn new things when I try.
If you're like me, and you have daily "Man I wish I knew this stuff better" feelings, that's...well, I won't tell you that it's okay, everyone's gotta feel it for themselves.
But I personally got over it (sort of) by empowering myself to learn new things.
But I personally got over it (sort of) by empowering myself to learn new things.
That sounds mushy and vague and everyone might express it differently, but it was an important realization / discovery / whatever you want to call it for me.
It's okay to not know something, buy a book, feel a bit lost, work your way through it.
It's okay to not know something, buy a book, feel a bit lost, work your way through it.
Also, I know I've said this on here before, but learning to simulate things has been massively helpful when learning new stuff. When I know what the answer should be, and test if / how often the method / code I'm trying to learn recovers the correct answer, it makes me feel...
...better than just "Well that code ran so I guess I did it right now, cool"
Okay, I think that's it, I yield the rest of my time. Have a nice day everyone.
Oh, one more thing: admittedly the other side of this "Get on Twitter and use it to learn new things and we can all hold hands and sing kumbaya" is that the impostor syndrome can really double down...
...like when you carry a degree that says "Statistics" on it and you have a fancy faculty position as a "Statistician" on grants and you watch, like, psych post-docs (ahem, @SolomonKurz among others) write these cool blog posts doing things you *wish* you were smart enough to do.
To that, I just say, it's part of the whole experience. Accept that you're not as smart as you wish you were, learn from others who are kind enough to share their hard-won brains and knowledge.
