Nice! Real-world problems like these are what spurred my interest in statistics/data science, and I agree with your sentiment that intro stats books are a terrible way to cultivate enthusiasm and curiosity about ways to solve problems using data.
In my experience, the most difficult parts of the process are (1) translating from qualitative problems “in the field” to a formalized technical problem, and (2) all the wrangling necessary to implement the formal problem using field-collected data.
I find that I spend most of my time as a data scientist working on these parts of the process, and often don’t have the bandwidth or even requirement for more advanced methods. Not that fancy techniques are the goal, per se, but I do notice I rarely have the opportunity to use them.
In my experience, the most difficult parts of the process are (1) translating from qualitative problems “in the field” to a formalized technical problem, and (2) all the wrangling necessary to implement the formal problem using field-collected data.
I find that I spend most of my time as a data scientist working on these parts of the process, and often don’t have the bandwidth or even requirement for more advanced methods. Not that fancy techniques are the goal, per se, but I do notice I rarely have the opportunity to use them.