Advance our industry and win cash in the SPA poster competition

Members of the Scientific and Public Affairs (SPA) Committee invite all 2014 JSM poster contributors to compete for a policy applications prize in its fourth Statistical Significance competition. A $250 prize will be awarded to the JSM poster that includes a Statistical Significance piece that describes the best contribution of statistics to society. (Note: Participation in this competition is only available to contributed poster authors who submit their poster abstract by the JSM deadline of February 3.)

What constitutes a Statistical Significance piece? Statistical Significance is a short, one-page illustration of the value of statistics to society within the context of the research problem dealt with in the poster submitted for JSM presentation. The objective is to illustrate to a lay person how the statistical solution to the problem presented in the poster would help form decisions that improve our society in specific areas such as health, agriculture, economy, education, manufacturing, and medicine. This specific piece should be clearly written to convey the beneficial role of statistics in a concise and unambiguous manner. The most effective Statistical Significance pieces are easy to develop, simple in exposition, enlightening, and fun to read. See the ASA website for examples.

Participants in this Statistical Significance contest must include a one-page Statistical Significance piece along with their poster presentation at JSM. Both the scientific merit of the poster and the Statistical Significance piece will be judged for the competition. However, posters without the separate Statistical Significance page will be ineligible to win the competition, even if they participate in the competition. 

A panel of judges appointed by the SPA committee will visit the posters at JSM and determine a winner on the morning of August 6. The winner will be notified immediately thereafter.

To enter, email your intention to compete to Vicky Pszonka on behalf of SPA members Susmita Datta and Daniel McCaffrey at vpszonka@ets.org when you submit the poster abstract (including your abstract number). Feel free to contact Datta or McCaffrey at susmita.datta@louisville.edu or dmccaffrey@ets.org if you have any questions.