R Markdown

Who is a person combining sound subject matter understanding, statistical data handling, programming, visualization and communication skills?

Answer: a Data Science Consultant. He distinguishes himself from a “Number Cruncher” Data Scientist by his sound knowledge of the domain he applies his data science skills to (check the Venn diagram above, adapted from Drew Conway and plotted with R). He is able to present insights found in data, explain their degree of confidence, and engage with senior management.

François Rabelais said in 1532 “science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul”.

A more modern take on it would be “Clients will rather work with some data scientist A who understands their specific field than with another data scientist B who first needs to learn the basics - even if B is better in math/stats/hacking”

In Data Science, as in any other empirical science, it is crucial to test hypotheses, findings and apply subject matter expertise or be ready to face the risk of making wrong and misinformed conclusions. To do that, a deep understanding of the subject matter or business domain is key. The Chinese proverb reminds us, “to guess is cheap, to guess wrongly is expensive”.

The R plot diagram below is adapted from Stephan Kolassa.