Typologie van den statisticus Hoe men hem ziet en hoe hij

In the popular conception the statistician is a man who collects and groups figures which he publishes in the form of tables and graphs. The real statistician in the modern sense of the word, i.e. the man who does not collect the material but analyses it and draws his conclusions from it, is as yet practically unknown to the general public. It is desirable that more publicity should be given to the characteristic qualities required for this calling, so that those most fitted for i may be drawn towards it. The aspiring statistician should be taught to think in statistical terms and not along functional or determinist lines, as the mathematician does. The statistician is only interested in individual phenomena insofar as they enable him to draw conclusions of a more general character out of a certain amount of isolated cases. A true sense of proportion is very important as it plays a major part in the framing, the working out and the conclusions to be drawn from the solution of the problems. As the sphere of his activities is so extensive, the statistician should be able to adapt himself quickly to new situations. Those who are endowed with these varying talents can rely on finding a very useful task as a statistician.