FAQ
FAQs about the Coordinator and our Services
What does the Coordinator of Statistical Resources do?
The Coordinator of Statistical Resources provides assistance for Montana State University faculty, staff, and researchers by identifying statistical resources for consulting and collaboration. The coordinator connects faculty, staff, and researchers at Montana State University with potential statistical resources available in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, other resources at Montana State University, and provides a way to locate other potential external resources.
To whom does the coordinator provide services?
Through funding by the VP Research & Economic Development, the coordinator provides services to researchers associated with Montana State University. Researchers that are not affiliated with MSU are encouraged to check out the Resources page.
Where is the coordinator located?
103 AJM Johnson Hall on Montana State University campus in Bozeman.
What is the process of receiving a statistical referral?
After submitting an online request form, the coordinator will contact the researcher making the request (typically within 2 business days) to provide information about possible statistical resources and options available based on the responses on the request form. After the initial email, it may take a week or two to connect the requester with an available statistical resource. After a connection with resources has been made the coordinator will not be involved with the actual consultation process. If additional resources are needed a researcher is encouraged to submit another request form.
Are there fees associated with requesting statistical resources?
The coordinator is a member of the staff in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at MSU, with funding provided by the Department and the VP Research & Economic Development. Statistical referrals are provided with no charge thanks to funding by the VP RED.. However, payment for statistical services are arranged directly with the statistical service or collaborator, and these charges are outside of the control of the Coordinator of Statistical Resources and the Department of Mathematical Sciences. If a project is taken on by the statistical consulting seminar (STAT 510), support is provided at no cost. External collaborators or consultants set their own rates and MSU does not receive any benefit from referring to external resources or guarantee the results of any such external collaboration.
What if I am an MSU undergraduate student?
Typically the resources that we can refer researchers to are for faculty or graduate level research, although undergraduate research projects that are leading to peer-reviewed journal submissions with faculty members or are tied into larger projects are eligible for possible referral. One possible option may be the Statistical Consulting Seminar, as long as there is a faculty member who is associated with the project. These referral services are not intended for class projects or homework. If you feel like your project qualifies, please apply through our regular process by clicking on this request link.
What if I am submitting a grant proposal and want to include a statistician as a collaborator or Co-Investigator as part of my grant?
Please fill out the online request form, making it clear you would like assistance with a grant proposal, and the coordinator will be in contact with you to identify potential statistical resources that you could work with to form a collaboration for your grant proposal. Please make these requests well in advance of the grant due date (at least, three weeks and preferably more than a month).
What if I have already collected data?
We recommend contacting the coordinator as soon as possible, preferably when you are beginning to think about the study design. If you have already collected data, we will still do our best to connect you with statistical resources. Please fill out the request form and see the data organization best practices FAQ for standard guidelines.
Best Practices for a Successful Statistical Collaboration
Expectations of the relationship between a statistical consultant and the researcher?
Expectations of the relationship between the consultants and the client?
Typically, statistical consultants view the relationship with researcher as collaborative and not just transactional. The goal is often to assist the researcher in planning, defining, and developing their research as well as answering their questions of interest using sound statistical inference. Because of the collaborative nature of the work, communicating with and learning from researchers to better understand their goals is paramount to a successful project. Often researchers, not the statistician, are the content experts in their field. Statisticians will typically begin by listening and learning in order to best employ their expertise in statistical methodology (both in study design as well as data analysis). It is expected that both the researcher and the statistical consultants will communicate often and not just at the beginning and end of the project.
What should I bring to the initial meeting?
In initial communications with statistical consultants, information relevant to your research (e.g., research questions, survey instruments, etc.) may be requested by the consultant to prepare for the initial meeting. For the meeting, it is helpful if researchers are prepared to explain all aspects of their research that will be relevant to the desired collaboration with the statistician. Therefore anything that may help in this process (laptop, visual displays, etc.) may be useful. For example, it can be helpful when researchers draw or share pictures of study designs. The consultants will take notes during the meeting, and the researcher should plan on taking notes as well. Following the initial meeting, typically statistical consultants will send meeting notes to all parties summarizing the meeting and next steps to ensure all are in agreement moving forward.
How long should I expect to collaborate with a statistician after the initial meeting has taken place?
Ideally a researcher is contacting a statistician during the grant proposal writing phase. If that is the case, the collaboration will continue from that time through the grant award period, and potentially beyond. The minimum expectation for a collaboration is 2 weeks following the initial meeting, and that would only apply to providing oversight on implementation of design or statistical software programming questions. It takes time to understand a research project well enough to assist in developing a study design, creating graphical displays of data, and analyzing data. It may take a few meetings to decide on the goals and extent of collaboration. Discussion of the expectations of the timeline for the project should occur at the initial meeting with the statistical consultant.
When should I request statistical support?
The beginning of the study is the best time to seek statistical guidance and begin collaborations with a statistician. If you have yet to collect data, they can provide advice on study design to increase the chances that the data you collect, and associated analyses, align with your study questions and objectives. The statistician can also provide guidance on alternative courses of action in case the study does not go as smoothly as planned.
How should I organize my data so that a statistician can analyze it?
In order for a statistician to produce efficient and reproducible statistical analyzes and to help you in this process as well, it is important for data to be organized in a manner that makes it easy to use. If you can provide “tidy” data to your collaborators, this will allow them to spend more time on your analysis and less time cleaning the data to get them ready for analysis. It is best to save your data in a spreadsheet, as an Excel or csv file, but your statistical consultant will let you know if they need it in a different form, depending on what statistical software they use. In particular, be sure that each column represents a different variable with a succinct header, and each row corresponds to a different observation (i.e., long format rather than wide format). Also, please be sure that there is only one header row in the data file. Include metadata in second sheets in the Excel file and/or a separate file. Statistical consultants can also provide guidance for helping you do this.