◆ Statistics

What an epidemiology data analyst
really does.

20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.

20evidenced tasks
8,290in the US (2025)
$69,460median pay / year
6systems it runs on
See the 20 tasks ↓Open in the atlasThe full career map →
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Collect data through surveys
Collect household survey responses from the five field teams, consolid…3 sources agree

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The work, task by task

20 tasks
Hands on the work11
Interpret survey results+
Run descriptive and stratified analyses on the latest survey dataset to estimate prevalence by age, sex, and neighbourhood, produce a one-page results brief with key tables and confidence intervals, and send it to Dr. Morales and the surveillance team by Wednesday morning.
jdwiki2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Implement data collection procedures.+
Set up the daily data-entry workflow: create standardized intake forms, define validation checks for IDs and ranges, schedule nightly backups, and produce a short SOP for the data collectors to follow starting Monday.
onetwiki2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Adjust survey design for practicality+
Review the pilot field logs and respondent flow, propose three pragmatic design changes to shorten interviews and reduce travel time, cost the changes for the budget lead, and email recommendations to the operations manager by Friday close of business.
jdonet2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Address sampling issues and nonresponse problems+
Review the latest household survey dataset for sampling frame gaps and differential nonresponse, run weighting diagnostics, flag clusters with low coverage, and produce a brief memo with corrective sampling and imputation recommendations for the study PI by Wednesday.
jdwiki2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Write proposals to win new projects.+
Draft a three‑page proposal to win the municipal influenza surveillance contract, highlighting our sampling approach, nonresponse mitigation, timeline, budget, and three past project results, and attach costed personnel sheets for review by Friday morning.
onet
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Summarize survey findings visually+
Create a six‑slide briefing that visualises prevalence by age and region, shows sampling error bars and trend lines, and includes a one‑slide methods note and one‑slide key takeaways for the health director meeting on Thursday afternoon.
jd
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Collaborate with team members+
Set up a shared project workspace, post the cleaned dataset, the codebook, and the weekly task sheet, invite Li, Ahmed, and Dr. Morales as editors, and schedule a one‑hour sync for Monday to assign remaining tasks and deadlines.
jd
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
km/h RPMSurveying methods+
Design and document a household survey for influenza exposures in Riverside district, include sampling frame, question order, instrument calibration checklist, field measurement procedures, and a data quality plan ready for review by Dr. Patel on Friday.
esco
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Watch and assess4
Grow the practice2
Keep the record2
Work with people1

What the work runs on

named inside the evidenced tasks
12 tasksMicrosoft Excelaggregate incoming forms, clean fields, and produce a tabular dataset for analysisOpen its task library → 11 tasksMicrosoft Wordwrite the protocol with methods, sampling, and training plans for review and ethics submissionOpen its task library →
4 tasksMicrosoft Teamscoordinate with field teams and receive electronic forms
3 tasksIBM SPSS Statisticscompute prevalence estimates, confidence intervals, and stratified summaries from survey data
2 tasksMicrosoft Accessbuild standardized data-entry forms, enforce validation rules, and manage the local project database
2 tasksMicrosoft PowerPointassembles charts, error bars, and concise methods and takeaway slides for presentation to decision makers
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The same task, four heights

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Can AI actually do this job?

the honest answer

It can

where it genuinely helps
  • Explain the theory behind the work
  • Draft, tidy and structure your writing
  • Rehearse a hard conversation before you have it
  • Build a study plan that fits your gaps

It cannot

where it stops, completely
  • Be in the room where an epidemiology data analyst actually works
  • Carry the responsibility when the call is wrong — that weight stays yours
  • Notice what no one wrote down: the hesitation, the thing left unsaid
  • Live with the outcome

What the work pays

two countries, two different measures

United States

this exact occupation · BLS 2025
  • $69,460 a year — the middle: half earn more, half earn less
  • The lowest tenth earn near $39,260; the top tenth near $130,860
  • 8,290 people employed in this occupation

Where the evidence lives

open any of it yourself
O*NETThe US Department of Labor's own record of this job6 of these tasks ESCOThe European skills and occupations register8 of these tasks Job descriptionsReal postings, in the wild9 of these tasks WikipediaHow the world describes this work5 of these tasks US Bureau of Labor StatisticsPay and employment, by occupation2025 figures UK NOS LANEnC5Analyse data from field surveys and report findingsnational standard UK NOS SFHHP2Collate, analyse and interpret surveillance data to assess risks to ponational standard

Close to this work

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Questions people actually ask

You usually split time between data tasks and team work. Mornings often focus on cleaning or merging datasets in Microsoft Excel or Access, checking variable names, and running basic summaries in IBM SPSS Statistics.

Afternoons go to meetings on Microsoft Teams, designing surveys or reviewing field notes, and making visual summaries in PowerPoint. Some days you train recruiters or fix sampling problems; other days you test survey questions for clarity or write short sections of a project proposal in Word.

Start with Microsoft Excel and Word — those are used every day for data checks, tables, and documents. Learn pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, and basic formulas in Excel, plus clean report writing in Word.

Next pick up IBM SPSS Statistics for common epidemiologic analyses and Microsoft Access if your data come from multiple sources. Finally, practice making charts in PowerPoint and collaborating over Microsoft Teams.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports 8,290 employed in this SOC with a 2025 median pay of $69,460 per year. The lowest tenth earned $39,260 and the top tenth earned $130,860, per BLS.

Use those numbers as a range; actual pay depends on employer (public health agency, university, or private firm), location, and your experience with tools like SPSS or survey management.

You can start with a bachelor’s in biology, statistics, or computer science plus practical skills. Take one course in epidemiology or biostatistics, and get comfortable with Excel and SPSS through online tutorials.

Volunteer or intern on survey projects to learn field procedures, sample handling, and question testing. Show small portfolio pieces: cleaned datasets, a short analysis in SPSS, and a PowerPoint slide summarizing results.

Epidemiology data analysts focus on public-health surveys, sampling issues, nonresponse, and ethical standards in human-subjects research. You spend more time on survey design, field procedures, and communicating results to public-health teams.

Biostatisticians build complex models and might focus on medical trials. Data scientists often work with large pipelines and machine learning. If you want hands-on survey work and public-health interpretation, epidemiology analysis is the closer fit.

AI can help draft code snippets for SPSS, suggest survey question wording, or create slide text for PowerPoint. Use it to speed repetitive tasks, but always verify: run the code yourself in SPSS, check outputs, and confirm the AI’s suggested wording works with your sampling plan.

Never use AI to decide ethical issues, handle identifiable health data, or replace informed consent procedures. Follow your employer’s data-security rules and only upload de-identified data if allowed.

Clear, accurate communication of messy results. A great analyst turns complex SPSS outputs and messy Excel tables into a one-page story and two clear charts in PowerPoint that non-technical colleagues understand.

That requires technical skill (data cleaning, correct sampling adjustments) plus practice writing short summaries in Word and presenting on Microsoft Teams. Practice explaining one result in two sentences.