Affiliation: Senior Director, RTI International
Jill Dever spent the first 22 years of her life in the suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. Occasionally, her southern accent slips out, especially right after she has spent time with her dad. But she has never owned a horse or attended the Kentucky Derby.
Dever’s interest in statistics started with her parents and math flashcards at the kitchen table. She was not ‘good at math,’ and her parents thought both their kids needed a strong background for whatever career path they chose. Later, her favorite brother (who is eight years older than her) heightened her interest in math and taught her computer programming logic by sharing fun facts and projects from school.
Her interest in statistics stemmed from a conundrum: What was she going to do with a BS in mathematics? Dever’s University of Louisville professor encouraged her to investigate biostatistics, owing to her interest in medical-based TV shows (and now veterinarian shows). So, she was off to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for an MS in biostatistics and landed a research assistantship with Bill Kalsbeek and others at the Survey Research Unit.
Kalsbeek worked at RTI International before joining the staff at UNC, which afforded Dever an introduction to her employer of 25 years. There, she has worked on a wide variety of projects to feed her curious side.
Dever can think of three achievements that make her smile. First, once an extremely shy person, she learned how to present to a large, technical audience without fear of fainting or losing her voice. (Her jokes may have improved, as well.) Second, she not only survived but thrived in the Joint Program in Survey Methodology PhD program with a wonderful group of caring people and four publications. Third, she saw her idea of a book to guide and enliven students and researchers come to life in Practical Tools for Sampling and Weighting, coauthored with her mentors and dear friends Rick Valliant and Frauke Kreuter. This work spawned a second book with Valliant, Survey Weights: A Step-by-Step Guide to Calculation.
Survey statistics has failed miserably at becoming a rote science for Dever. She strongly believes in the need for public opinion combined with other data to inform policy and other key decisions. This data is not without fault and requires a careful evaluation and techniques to limit errors and biases. But, hey, did she mention she likes puzzles?
Leave a Reply