Can Agents Work?

Jobs / Data and analytics / 15-2041.01

Biostatisticians

Develop and apply biostatistical theory and methods to the study of life sciences.

US jobs
29,030 (SOC 15-2041 group, "Statisticians")
Median wage
$105,650 a year
Job family
Data and analytics

Can agents do the work of biostatisticians?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Data and analytics:

  • Task levelPartialOne direct benchmark, near its ceiling. On Spider 2.0-Snow, which asks for multi-step SQL against large business databases, the top agent reaches 96.7% execution accuracy, but the entry names no model. Adjacent spreadsheet tasks agree (83.1% on SpreadsheetBench). No benchmark in our collection tests open-ended analysis, where the right question is itself unclear.
  • Project levelPartialMixed, adjacent evidence. On MLE-bench, 75 offline Kaggle competitions, the best agent wins a medal in 64.4% of competitions. The Remote Labor Index includes data analysis projects; across all its projects, the best agent completed 15.8% to a standard a client would accept.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in data and analytics, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Draw conclusions or make predictions, based on data summaries or statistical analyses.
  • Analyze clinical or survey data, using statistical approaches such as longitudinal analysis, mixed-effect modeling, logistic regression analyses, and model-building techniques.
  • Write detailed analysis plans and descriptions of analyses and findings for research protocols or reports.
  • Calculate sample size requirements for clinical studies.
  • Read current literature, attend meetings or conferences, and talk with colleagues to keep abreast of methodological or conceptual developments in fields such as biostatistics, pharmacology, life sciences, and social sciences.
  • Design research studies in collaboration with physicians, life scientists, or other professionals.
  • Prepare tables and graphs to present clinical data or results.
  • Write program code to analyze data with statistical analysis software.
  • Provide biostatistical consultation to clients or colleagues.
  • Review clinical or other medical research protocols and recommend appropriate statistical analyses.
  • Develop or implement data analysis algorithms.
  • Determine project plans, timelines, or technical objectives for statistical aspects of biological research studies.
Other job titles for this occupation (12)

Biometrician · Biostatistical Consultant · Biostatistician · Research Scientist · Statistical Scientist · Bioinformatics Scientist · Biomathematician · Clinical Biostatistician · NGS Biostatistician (Next-Generation Sequencing) · Postdoctoral Fellow · Research Biostatistician · Statistical Programmer