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The value of professional membership
The RSS accreditation for professional members (i.e. holding the CStat professional award) brings value both to members of the profession and to those who benefit from the work of professional statisticians.
Viewed from the profession, accreditation testifies that there is a body of knowledge known as statistics, that accredited practitioners of statistics must be well versed in that knowledge at an advanced level, and must have applied it competently and ethically through practice for several years. And as rapidly as the theory and practice of statistics evolves, so must professional statisticians continually stay abreast of new developments in their areas of expertise.
One does not have to be accredited to have these qualities, of course, but accreditation is one witness to the wider world that statisticians are professionals, akin to architects, doctors, engineers and lawyers.
Why is this important?
Many issues that have an impact our daily lives, such as our health and safety, our work, our standard of living, and the policies of our governments are crucially influenced by statistics - the collection, analysis, presentation and interpretation of quantitative data in the presence of uncertainty.
Sound statistical practice informs sound decisions, leading to better policy and better outcomes. Incorrect or unethical use of statistics can produce misleading results, poor advice and worse choices.
That is, the practice of statistics is a job for skilled professionals. Accredited statisticians have been recognized by their peers as combining education, experience, competence, and commitment to ethics at a level that labels them as professionals. Accreditation provides a measure of assurance to employers, contractors and collaborators of statisticians, and a mark of accomplishment to society at large.
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