This category includes
pages explaining new developments in my professional career. Also see Category: Website details. Earlier entries about professional details can be
found in the
professional details page at the
StATS website.
2010
- P.Mean: Standard operating procedures
for a statistical consulting center (created 2010-07-30). I asked a
question on one of the American Statistical Association message boards about
how I setting up a consulting service at the University of Missouri-Kansas
City (UMKC), where I work part-time. I wanted to develop some SOPs (Standard
Operating Procedures) for this center that would supplement the guidance
already available on the web. I asked if anyone else had SOPs (or anything
similar) that I could look at so I wouldn't re-invent the wheel. I got a lot
of responses.
- P.Mean: Sample chapter: The first three
steps in selecting an appropriate sample size (created 2010-07-24). As I
mentioned in an earlier webpage, I am talking to some publishers about writing
a second book. The working title is "Jumpstart Statistics: How to Restart Your
Stalled Research Project." Here's a tentative chapter from that book. It is
not quite complete yet, but I'm hoping to finish it soon. One of your most
critical choices in designing a research study is selecting an appropriate
sample size. A sample size that is either too small or too large will be
wasteful of resources and will raise ethical concerns.
- P.Mean: Tentative table of contents for my
second book (created 2010-07-24). As I mentioned in an earlier webpage, I
am talking to some publishers about writing a second book. The working title
is "Jumpstart Statistics: How to Restart Your Stalled Research Project."
Here's a tentative table of contents.
- P.Mean: Jumpstart Statistics, a proposal
for my second book (created 2010-07-23). I want to talk to some publishers
about writing a second book. Here is what I will propose to them.
- P.Mean: Salary survey for Biostatisticians
(created 2010-07-21). I am working part-time at UMKC in the Department of
Informatic Medicine and Personalized Health. They like me and want me to
increase my hours from 10 hours a week (25% time) to something more. I'll talk
to them about this, but at the same time, I want to point out that my salary
is not competitive with my peers. Here's a table from a recent survey on
salaries, published in the Amstat News.
- P.Mean: What is the premier conference for
statistical consulting (created 2010-05-28). Someone asked what the
premier conference for statistical consulting. That's a rather ambiguous
question, because different people will interpret terms like "premier
conference" and "statistical consulting" differently. The answer, however, is
pretty unambiguous. In North America, it would have to be the Joint Statistics
Meetings (JSM).
- P.Mean: How I got started in my career as an
independent statistical consultant (created 2010-05-24). LinkedIn has a
question and answer board, and one of the questions inspired me to write up
the story of how I got started in my career as an independent statistical
consultant. Here's the original question: I'm very curious as to what
events or conversations enabled you to change direction in your career. What
thought process did you go through? What resources did you use or uncover?
- P.Mean: My life so far: fails to meet
expectations (created 2010-04-21). I'm learning how to use LinkedIn, and
there are some people on that site who ask general philosophical questions.
Some are a bit silly but they are still fun to answer. One person asked people
to apply the traditional performance evaluation categories (Exceeds
expectations, Meets expectations, Fails to meet expectations) to their own
lives. So here is what I wrote.
- P.Mean: Fan page for The Monthly Mean
(created 2010-02-11). I've been getting some advice about Facebook. One
suggestion was to set up a "fan page". There are some differences between
being a "friend" on Facebook and being a "fan".
- P.Mean: Facebook account (created
2010-01-25). Several people have been encouraging me to set up an account
on Facebook. I did it this evening and two hours later, I had two friends.
- P.Mean: Abstracts for a possible
upcoming talk (created 2010-01-20). I might be asked to give a talk in February and I wanted to offer two
possible choices. Here are the titles and abstracts of those talks.
2009
- P.Mean: Jump start statistics for beginning
researchers (created 2009-11-07). I am a part-time faculty at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City, one of four schools in the University of
Missouri system. I responded recently to an email sent to all faculty asking
for suggestions about eLearning and distance education. Here was my proposal.
- P.Mean: New Bioinformatics
degree program at UMKC (created 2009-11-03). I am working part-time in the
Department of Informatic Medicine and Personalized Health in the School of
Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. This department has just
developed a website advertising the program. Here are a few key links.
- P.Mean: Tentative training schedule
(created 2009-08-31). I've been asked to develop a series of training
classes. Here's a first draft.
- P.Mean: Short biography (created
2009-03-30). At irregular intervals, I am asked to provide a brief
biography of myself. Here is the latest version, along with links to earlier
version. I usually put this up on my website, not out of vanity, but rather so
that I would remember all the nice things that I am supposed to say about
myself. If you need material to introduce me as a speaker, to help write a
grant, or to get a better appreciation of who I am and what I do, please feel
free to read and use any of this material.
- P.Mean: Two business contacts
(created 2009-03-30). I got a phone call today from someone applying for a
very high level job at Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH). I no longer work at
CMH, but this person wanted to see what I knew about this position, the person
making the hiring decision, the management climate at CMH, etc. I couldn't
offer too much advice as this position was quite different from the areas I
worked in, but I did try to help as best I could. During the discussion, this
person mentioned two business contacts that I might want to follow up with to
help build my consulting customer base.
- P.Mean: Acknowledging the
contributions of a statistician (created 2009-02-16). A while back you
assisted me with stats on my paper. I am finally ready to submit and wanted to
know how I should appropriately acknowledge you for your participation since
you are no longer at Children's Mercy Hospital.
2008
- P.Mean: Teaching classes for a fee
(created 2008-11-03). I was asked by someone at Children's Mercy Hospital
how much it would cost to continue teaching the short courses that I have
offered. Since I will also make those courses available to anyone else, I
thought I'd share my general comments about fees and logistics here.
- P.Mean: Can I ask you a question? (created
2008-09-25). For several years now, I have enjoyed reading your webpage
and have recently purchased your text- thank for your efforts in helping those
of us attempting to learn biostatistics. I’ve been struggling with a
design/analysis question related to repeated measures design and power analysis.
I’m not sure if you are currently accepting questions of this nature, and
thought I would check to see if this would be OK. I certainly understand if this
is something that you would rather not involve yourself with.
- P.Mean: Multiple email accounts (created
2008-09-09). I have created several email accounts to help separate my
personal life from my professional life and my new career as an independent
statistical consultant from my old career at Children's Mercy Hospital. You can
use any of these email accounts, and I will answer, of course. I will be a bit
more efficient, though, if you target the correct email address.
- P.Mean: Social networking as a business
tool (created 2008-08-19). The New York Times had an interesting article
about using social networking tools for professional goals: The Social Network
as a Career Safety Net, Sarah Jane Tribble, August 13, 2008. This is a fairly
basic article, which was good for me because I have ignored social networking
sites until recently.
- P.Mean: Resources from the
Statistical Consulting Section of the American Statistical Association
(created 2008-08-02). I've talked with a lawyer about setting up an independent statistical
consulting practice and he had several valuable suggestions. One of the more
obvious ones, but one that I had not considered was to check out resources
available through your professional society. The American Statistical Association has a Statistical Consulting Section,
and this section provides quite a few resources. Here's a brief summary of
some of the ones that I found helpful.
- P.Mean: Business aspects of an
independent statistical consultant (created 2008-07-28). I'm learning quite a bit about the business issues associated with a new
career as an independent statistical consultant. Here are some of the issues
I've had to confront. My apologies to the many readers of this website from
other countries, but these issues are mostly specific to the United States.
- P.Mean: Mail and calendar software I use in
my new job (created 2008-07-23). When I was working for Children's Mercy
Hospital, it made sense to use Microsoft Outlook for my email and calendaring
system. Working, independently, however, I have more choices (more degrees of
freedom, perhaps).
- P.Mean: Hire me as a consultant (created
2008-07-15). Starting on July 15, 2008, I am available for statistical
consulting. I have a PhD in Statistics, thirty years of experience, and many
satisfied customers. In the past, I have undertaken independent consulting
assignments using my evenings and weekends, but there was not enough time in
the week to handle this and keep up with my five year old boy. I am taking an
unpaid leave of absence from work in order to devote full time to develop a
career as an independent consultant.
Outside resources:
-
Going Rates for Statistical Consulting: Results from the Statistical
Consulting Section Rates Survey Results. Karen Copeland, Timothy A. Max,
and Susan Devlin, published in the Spring 2006 (Volume 23 Number 1) issue of
the Statistical Consultant. Description: This newsletter includes a salary
survey for consulting rates. They noted that "the median hourly rate
charged for external clients is $130 with an inter quartile range of $89 -
$189" and "Ph.D.'s charge on average $44 more per hour than those
with a Master's degree across all types of tasks." www.amstat.org/sections/cnsl/newsletter/pdf_archive/vol23no1.pdf
-
Larry Goldbetter, Susan E. Davis, Paul J. MacArthur. Have You Received an
E-Book Contract Amendment? | NWU - National Writers Union. Excerpt:
"Writers across the country are receiving letters from HarperCollins, Random
House, and other publishers asking them to sign e-book amendments to their
book contracts. When reviewing an e-book amendment, there are several things
you should consider." [Accessed July 7, 2010]. Available at:
https://nwu.org/have-you-received-e-book-contract-amendment%3F.
-
David L DeMets, Thomas R Fleming, Frank Rockhold, et al. Liability issues
for data monitoring committee members. Clinical Trials, 2004:525 -531 vol.
1: Abstract: "In randomized clinical trials, a data monitoring committee (DMC)
is often appointed to review interim data to determine whether there is early
convincing evidence of intervention benefit, lack of benefit or harm to study
participants. Because DMCs bear serious responsibility for participant safety,
their members may be legally liable for their actions. Despite more than three
decades of experiences with DMCs, the issues of liability and indemnification
have yet to receive appropriate attention from either government or industry
sponsors. In industry-sponsored trials, DMC members are usually asked to sign
an agreement delineating their responsibilities and operating procedures.
While these agreements may include language on indemnification, such language
sometimes protects only the sponsor rather than the DMC members. In
government-sponsored trials, there has been even less structure, since
typically there are no signed agreements regarding DMC activities. This paper
discusses these issues and suggests sample language for indemnification
agreements to protect DMC members. This type of language should be included in
DMC charters and in all consulting agreements signed by DMC members."
[Accessed July 6, 2010]. Available at:
http://ctj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/6/525.
-
Lightning -
Project Home. Description: This is the software I currently use for my
calendar. It is an add-on for Thunderbird based on a stand-alone program,
Sunbird. www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/
-
National Association for the Self-Employed.
Excerpt: The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) is the
nation's leading resource for the self-employed and micro-businesses providing
a broad range of benefits and support to help the smallest businesses succeed.
www.nase.org
-
Holland K. Smoothing the Way to Self-Employment. The New York Times. 2009.
Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/jobs/22mgmt.html [Accessed
February 26, 2009].
-
Statistics Without Borders. Home - Statistics Without Borders.
Excerpt: "Statistics Without Borders (SWB) is an apolitical organization under
the auspices of the American Statistical Association, comprised entirely of
volunteers, that provides pro bono statistical consulting and assistance to
organizations and government agencies in support of these organizations'
not-for-profit efforts to deal with international health issues (broadly
defined). Our vision is to achieve better statistical practice, including
statistical analysis and design of experiments and surveys, so that
international health projects and initiatives are delivered more effectively
and efficiently." [Accessed July 7, 2010]. Available at:
http://community.amstat.org/AMSTAT/StatisticsWithoutBorders/Home/Default.aspx.
-
Thunderbird - Reclaim your inbox. Description: This is the software I
currently use for email. It has a clean and simple interface and can easily
integrate multiple email accounts. www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
All of the material above this paragraph is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. This page was written by
Steve Simon and was last modified on
2010-07-30. The material
below this paragraph links to my
old website, StATS. Although I wrote all of the material
listed below, my ex-employer, Children's Mercy Hospital, has claimed copyright
ownership of this material. The brief excerpts shown here are included under
the fair use provisions of U.S. Copyright laws.
2008
- Stats: Why it's impossible to keep a
resume current (June 5, 2008). I'm updating my resume and found an
amusing coincidence. It serves as a cautionary statement to never make
assumptions.
- Stats: A short biography that can be
used as an introduction (May 9, 2008). I'm giving a talk today, and I was
asked to provide some material that could be used to introduce me.
- Stats: Directions to my new office (April
25, 2008). I have moved to a new office. It is a modular building just
north of Children's Mercy Hospital. It is between 23rd and 22nd street, just
off of Kenwood Avenue (Kenwood is a small north/south street just west of
Holmes). If you need to get from your office to mine, here are some
directions written by my Administrative Assistant, Judy Champion.
- Stats: Nomination for the Kreamer Award
for Research Excellence (April 24, 2008). Every year, Children's Mercy
Hospital offers the Kreamer Award for Research Excellence. I plan to apply
this year. I wanted to outline the requirements for the award and offer an
overview of why I would be a good candidate for this award.
- Stats: No longer the sole statistician?
(November 28, 2007). Children's Mercy Hospital is hiring a second
statistician. Hooray! It's a great place to work and I'm hoping we can hire
someone quickly.
- Stats: Help for Statistics at UMKC
and KUMC (October 1, 2007). I get lots of questions about where to go for
help with Statistics for someone outside of Children's Mercy Hospital. If you
are a student or work at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) or at
Kansas University Medical Center (KUMC), there are a lot of resources you can
investigate.
- Stats: The latest word on my promotion
(September 27, 2007). In previous weblog entries, I discussed the process
that I was following to get a promotion from Associate Professor to Full
Professor. Here are the most recent developments.
- Stats: My promotion application
(September 5, 2007). In previous weblog entries (see below), I discussed
the process for applying for a promotion to Full Professor. Yesterday, I
turned in a completed a promotion application. I printed PDFs of the
application in six separate files and am including them here to offer
additional information for the external scholars who will be evaluating me.
- Stats: Extra information for the resume
of Stephen D. Simon (September 4, 2007). This supplement includes
information that is incomplete and less important. In many cases, I have lost
the ability to track all relevant entries because I have worked with some
many different researchers.
- Stats: External scholars needed to
review my promotion materials (August 31, 2007). Although I do all my
work at Children's Mercy Hospital, I have a joint appointment as Associate
Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas
City. In a previous weblog entry, I
described the process that I would have to follow to get a promotion from
Associate Professor to Full Professor. One of the more difficult things that
the promotion committee is asking for is five external scholars who would
review my portfolio. Here's a description of the process from the UMKC
promotion materials.
- Stats: Conflict of interest list
(July 18, 2007). I was asked to fill out a conflict of interest form for
a talk I will be giving in December. While I have not gotten any money
directly from drug companies recently, I do have some financial support
outside the hospital that might be considered a conflict of interest in some
contexts. These sources of support do not relate directly or indirectly to
the topic I will be discussing in December (or any of the topics that I plan
to discuss), but it it better to disclose too much rather than too little. I
will try to update this page as new sources of support appear.
- Stats: I deserve a promotion (June 22,
2007). I have a joint appointment as an associate professor with the
School of Medicine at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. I am looking
to produce the paperwork to ask for a promotion to full professor. I thought
that some of the material that I produce in this process might be interesting
to others. Perhaps not, but storage space on the web is cheap. It will also
allow me to organize my thoughts better and interact more efficiently with
others who will be helping me in this process.
- Stats: You won't have Steve Simon to kick
around anymore (May 24, 2006). The results of the election of officers
for the American Statistical Association came out today, and sad to say, I
came in second in a two person race. I was running for Vice Chair of District
4, Region 2, of the Council of Chapters. The winner, Kathy Morrisey from
Strategy 2 Market, Inc., had very good credentials, so I don't feel too bad
about this.
- Stats: Where to go, where to go (January 11,
2006). There are several interesting research conferences this year, and
I have to decide quickly which one(s) to attend.
- Stats: Vote for me (December 21, 2005). I
am running for an elected office, the Vice-Chair of District 4, Region 2, of
the Council of Chapters for the American Statistical Association. I could
make some jokes about this, but in all honesty, it is flattering to be
nominated for this position.
- Stats: Contacting and working with me (August
15, 2005). If you would like to meet with me, send me an email or call me
816-234-3963. You can also talk to Judy Champion (816-983-6784) or Vicki
Parker (816-234-3961) who both have the ability to check my schedule and make
appointments.
- Stats: Brief Biography for Steve Simon
(January 14, 2004). Steve Simon earned a Ph.D. in Statistics from the
University of Iowa in 1982. He currently works as a research biostatistician
at Childrens Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, MO.
- Stats: For CMH employees only: Consulting
services that I provide (April 30, 2003). You can get free statistical
consulting if you work for Children's Mercy Hospital. I provide a wide range
of statistical consulting services to help you with your research projects.
This help can start as early as the initial planning of your research. I also
help with the analysis of your data, using SPSS or other statistical
software. I can also provide assistance with the preparation of your
presentations and publications.
- Stats: Biography for Steve Simon (January 16,
2002). Steve Simon earned a PhD in Statistics from the University of Iowa
in 1982. His training emphasized applied statistics and he served for two
years as the student head of the University Statistical Consulting Service.
- Stats: Resume for Steve Simon (December 26,
2000). Notice to headhunters: I am not looking for a job. I am posting
this resume to help with my collaborative efforts with others outside
Children's Mercy Hospital.
- Stats: Information about Steve Simon (January 28,
2000). Here are all the details on how you can contact me: address,
phone, fax, and email. I prefer email.
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