Request a Consultation

Ideally, statistical consultation should occur before implementation of the research and several weeks prior to your personal deadlines. The development of a research project tends to take longer than expected. Before submitting your request, please review our acknowledgement and authorship page.

Consultation Requests

RStats respects the teacher/student relationship inherent in the education and development of a student's thesis or research project. Students who seek help with graded projects must obtain permission from their advisor/principal investigator (PI) and ask their advisor to sign the RStats Thesis and Research Approval Form before we consult. It is preferred that the advisor attend the first consult meeting with their respective student or discuss with the RStats consultant the expected involvement of RStats. This is relevant for any sort of work which is being prepared for submission for a grade or completion of degree. For student research projects, theses, and program requirements, the RStats Institute primarily serves in an advisory capacity. RStats does not do data entry, data analysis, assess data integrity, and/or write up the statistical interpretations for student projects. RStats will provide guidance in each of the aforementioned activities.

MCHHS faculty members have access to RStats services; however, support is limited to a maximum of 3 hours or 3 meetings (whichever occurs first). This policy is designed to ensure faculty continue to feel supported while allowing us to prioritize student needs and maintain the quality of services provided. Undergraduate students may also receive support through RStats; however, services are typically limited and depend on the scope and nature of the project. RStats primarily serves graduate students.

If additional or more extensive consultation is desired beyond this limit, please refer to the fee-for-service section for more information.

Fee-for-service project support

Although RStats provides free consults for MSU faculty members and MSU students, on occasion there is greater need for statistical and experimental support (e.g., grant submissions, grant yearly reports, and/or publications), hence for such Project consulting a fee-for-service arrangement can be made. Faculty members and students working for not-for-profit granting agencies may choose to hire RStats personnel or research assistants to assist in experimental design, questionnaire development, data management, data analyses, power analyses, publication submissions, and so forth. Consultation agreements via MSU approved rates for project consulting may differ among clients depending on the source of funding. A consultation agreement that matches your situation can be discussed and arranged. If you are uncertain about how your funding source is classified, let us know so we can assist in determining an appropriate rate and account.

Sometimes researchers ask, "Are we required to include RStats in the budget of the project?" The answer is "No, but we wish you would consider it", especially if it seems probable that significant help from RStats would be valuable for the implementation and completion of the research project.