Associate Professor Sue Finch

Deputy Director and Senior Statistical Consultant

Associate Professor Sue Finch

Consulting

I have worked full-time in the Statistical Consulting Centre since 2004.

In this time I have consulted on around 700 different projects, and  provided over 300 reports to clients.

My background  is in psychology and statistics, and I bring to consulting over forty years of experience in working in the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victorian government agencies, and academic institutions. I enjoy the  challenge and stimulation of working with clients  from many different fields. Providing plain language explanations and  applied interpretations of statistical analysis, often using high quality statistical graphics, is an important part of my consulting practice.

I am co-chair of the Statistical Consulting Network (SSA), and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.

Three women hug outside a courthouse, surrounded by cameras
© Louie Douvis, Sydney Morning Herald

Recent work

Here are some examples of my consulting work, which often involves collaboration with my colleagues in the Statistical Consulting Centre.

  • Meta-analysis to support expert witness evidence in a class action over the use of transvaginal mesh implants.
  • Design and analysis of trials of 3D x-ray technology at Australian airports.
  • Design and analysis of a range of different surveys of public transport users for government agencies including Public Transport Victoria and Transport for NSW.
  • Meta-analyses of clinical outcomes to support applications to the PBAC.

Research

Statistical consulting provides many and varied opportunities for research collaborations, as you can see from my recent publications in Find an Expert.

My  research interests are also in statistical education, statistical graphics, and statistical consulting. I am interested in finding better ways of representing, communicating and understanding statistical concepts.

Finch & Gordon (2023) Bare bones or rich feast? Taking care with context in a data rich world won the C. Oswald George prize in 2023.

Finch & Gordon (2025) Teaching of Confidence Intervals in Context appeared in the Festschrift for Alison Harcourt.

My Find an Expert profile

Resources

Staff in the Statistical Consulting Centre have developed free resources to help with understanding statistics and data analytics.

Here, for example, are some resources about data visualisation

All resources

Teaching

I teach courses, workshops and University subjects, and have collaborated on the development of innovative online subjects.

  • The Statistical Consulting Centre offers intensive short courses open to anyone.  I co-teach Statistics for Research Workers using R and RMarkdown every year.  Find out about Statistical Consulting Centre courses here.

    The Statistical Consulting Centre can also provide tailored short courses. I have collaborated on many of these.

  • I teach short, free  workshops for eligible University of Melbourne graduate research students and staff.

  • Ian Gordon and I teach:

    I have previously developed and taught:

  • I collaborated on the development of innovative subjects in statistical literacy at the University of Melbourne.

    • Thinking scientifically is an online breadth subject for second year science students, which includes a substantial component about Thinking with data.
    • Critical thinking with data (retired 2022)  taught students to become critical users of data-based  evidence.  A new second year science subject, also called Critical thinking with data, focuses on critical thinking and scientific communication skills.
    • Data fundamentals was a free online series offered to University of Melbourne students as part of the Employment Fundamentals initiative, teaching the fundamentals of statistical literacy.

    • I worked on StatPlay, innovative software for learning about statistical concepts.
    • I collaborated with Ian Gordon on RealStat - an online suite of real case studies in statistics.

Contact

sfinch@unimelb.edu.au
(03) 8344 6994
Find an Expert profile