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Engaging Entry Level Researchers in Agriculture in Statistical Communication and Collaboration: Why? and How?

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Topics from Australian Conferences on Teaching Statistics

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics ((PROMS,volume 81))

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Abstract

The Biometry Hub, a statistics research and consulting group in an agricultural science school, has commenced a project to enhance the statistical capacity of graduates in agricultural sciences. The project engages with students undertaking research projects as they are completing their undergraduate degrees and considering their careers, possibly in research. This group is motivated learners focused on delivering outcomes in solving real-life problems, and respond well to opportunities for their broad professional development. The project will help them become familiar with the culture of cross-disciplinary collaboration, an essential component of modern agricultural research.

The teaching and learning framework of the project consists of four elements: (1) group workshops in quantitative methods; (2) individual attention from a statistics consultant throughout the research project; (3) targeted guidance with peer-reviewed resources in statistical methods, experimental design and data management specific to the students’ research topics and (4) supervisor and peer support encouraged through the dissemination of ‘good statistics practice’ in the research group hosting a student.

This chapter summarises the problems addressed by the project, presents the project framework and discusses performance measures for the project’s elements and potential impact.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely acknowledge the support of the Grains Research and Development Corporation in funding the Capacity Building for Statistics project. The assistance of Margaret Cargill in editing and reviewing this chapter has been extremely valuable. We are also grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers for their numerous constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    O. Kravchuk

  2. Biometry Hub, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    D. L. Rutley

Authors
  1. O. Kravchuk
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  2. D. L. Rutley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to O. Kravchuk .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Helen MacGillivray

  2. Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

    Brian Phillips

  3. Actuarial Studies and Applied Statistics, Australian National University, Research, Canberra, Aust Capital Terr, Australia

    Michael A. Martin

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Kravchuk, O., Rutley, D.L. (2014). Engaging Entry Level Researchers in Agriculture in Statistical Communication and Collaboration: Why? and How?. In: MacGillivray, H., Phillips, B., Martin, M. (eds) Topics from Australian Conferences on Teaching Statistics. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 81. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0603-1_19

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