Paul Armstrong

 

 

 

 

Paul spends much of his time compiling data for the Higher Education Statistics Agency and the Office for Students. He finds it gratifying that a little Demography helps him to make sense of the datasets, and he relishes the occasional opportunity to make the data yield insight.

 

His love of numbers revived – and he was first involved in the management of waiting lists – when he was employed as a Business Manager. An MSc introduced him to some of the quantitative methodologies used in Health Services Research, and as a PhD student he learnt how to calculate the length of wait using period lifetable techniques. 20 years later, ‘How to solve it’, by G. Polya, allowed him to prove that the balance of enrolments and admissions effects changes in the length of wait (and the size of the list).

 

Paul enjoyed a year at All Souls College of Applied Theology, between finishing University and starting work as an administrator. Persuaded that the text of the bible warranted the closest attention, he read a volume of Essays on research methodologies, ‘New Testament Interpretation’, edited by I.H. Marshall, and was impressed with the rigor brought to the task. He is glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the work of the College.