The Merging of Statistics Education, Consulting and Research: A Case Study

It is shown how student participation in a real consulting project can be leveraged to achieve the dual goals of (i) developing statistical consulting skills in graduate students, and (ii) enhancing the instructional effectiveness of statistical methodology. Achieving these goals is the primary mission of the Statistical Consulting Collaboratory at the University of California, Riverside. The paper gives a detailed illustration of the how the goals were achieved by reporting on an interesting case study, with special emphasis given to describing the involvement of students and the alternative ways in which the project found its way into classrooms