Richard Evans knows diapers. He was a senior statistician in the marketing
research department at Proctor and Gamble when the company began selling Pampers
disposable diapers in the late 1960s.
"I made the first estimates of the size of the paper diaper market," he
says. Pampers was being marketed for daily use. Until then, paper diapers
were a traveling convenience only!
Now, Evans is the board chairman of a research firm. His company is an
independent marketing research firm that specializes in sampling plans, demographics,
questionnaire development and data management, to name a few areas. With this
much on the go, it's easy to see how adaptable a demographer needs to be.
Intellectual stamina is important, says Evans. So is getting a clear understanding
of a client's needs.
"Don't pursue a career as a consultant in a small firm if you only want
to work 40 hours per week, especially if your clients are big firms," he warns.
John Fetto works at American Demographics Magazine as a demographer and
writer. He says basic math is essential to his job. "It's important to be
good at math and to understand some statistics," he says.
As a writer in the field of demography, you still have to think of your
audience. "In magazines, you have to communicate well or else the story suffers.
You also have to work with others to get the best sources of information,"
says Fetto.
"Demographics is driving world business, world politics, world health,"
he says. "It's all we can do to stay on top of this field."
Robin Gentry works for a research company. She began working there part
time while she was still in college.
She started as an interviewer. When she graduated, she moved into a data
analyst position. In the last year, she has begun to design sample plans and
surveys. Her division does research on newspapers. She can work anywhere from
40 to 60 hours per week, depending on how busy the company is.
Her bachelor's degree in psychology helped her get the position, but she
says she got a lot of demography-related training on the job. "I use my math
and statistical background in almost everything I do, from calculating simple
formulas to doing statistical testing on data," she adds.
Working in the statistical survey industry means that decisions made early
on in a study can drastically affect the process. "If you make good decisions
early on in the process, you can save yourself lots of time and work later
on," she says.
Gentry learns something new every day and finds working as part of a team
to produce a great product very rewarding. Her job allows her to make sure
all voices are heard in a survey and that representation is equal and fair
to all. "It makes me feel that I am contributing to society," she says.
Down the hall from Gentry is the office of Ed Edens. He works 65 hours
a week at the beginning of the month. His hours taper to a more leisurely
45 per week by the end of the month.
He has a master's degree in human geography from the University of Arkansas.
His training in demography prepared him for the main focus of his workload:
making sure the important data that his organization needs is correct. He
also does statistical analysis.
Just like Gentry, Edens started as a phone interviewer. He then went on
to become a database manager, data analyst and finally a statistical analyst.
Every day, he uses computer, math and decision-making skills. He says the
latter skills are very important. "One has to be able to clearly look at the
overall goal that needs to be achieved, and then they have to logically figure
out how they will go about achieving that goal," he says.
Communication skills are also key. "It is very important to communicate...with
co-workers about what you need from them and what they need to do to achieve
an effective outcome."
Edens loves the challenge of his work. He enjoys working with the demographic
data, especially using it to find out something he didn't know before.
Ellen Gee has a much different job description. Her university work makes
her an academic demographer.
Most of her duties are teaching and doing research. She has some serious
administrative duties, too. She is head of the department of sociology and
anthropology. She describes her hours as very flexible, but typically not
less than 50 hours per week.
She says it is impossible to be a demographer without good statistics skills.
She uses her decision-making skills all the time, too. In research, she
needs to know what to study and how to study it. In her teaching role, she
says personal communication skills are crucial. And as a department
head, people skills are immensely important.
Her job has given her the chance to meet and network with people from all
over the world.
She encourages people to get into this field "for the enjoyment of doing
research, which can take you in directions you never expected."