One-to-one statistical help

When to seek advice and what to bring to a consultation

TO APPLY FOR STATISTICAL ADVICE FROM US:

 

Please complete the form SAS-Advice-Form‌ and ‘SUBMIT’ (for PC users) or send by e-mail to stathelp@imperial.ac.uk.

Please note: Forms with incomplete or misinformation will not be processed.

 

PhD students are strongly advised to attend the 1st meeting with their supervisors.


WHAT SUPPORT CAN WE PROVIDE?

image 2We provide statistical support (i.e. advice on the design and data analysis), explaining the results and providing references. We would like to clarify that we do not teach statistical methods as part of our consulting. If data analysis is involved, depending on how advanced the methodology is, we suggest that the student obtains training in statistics. SAS offers various Training Courses, from introductory to the more advanced.

Statistical advice should be sought at the project planning stage, and the cost of this advice should be included in your grant application. Your initial enquiry should outline the whole project. You need an initial consultation to discuss your project with a statistician. The consultation is approximately one hour.

WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM YOU ?

When you arrange a consultation, please bring the protocol and a description of the data to be collected, as well as relevant references. The latter are useful in sample size calculations. If you already have some data collected, please bring it with you on a USB.

Please, prepare your data according to the following Data preparation guidelines. consultations - imageWe do not provide advice over the phone, nor do we accept data attached to an email in lieu of a consultation.

Please allow the consultant adequate time to do justice to your work. If you have a deadline please discuss this with the consultant well in advance.

 

STATISTICIAN'S CONTRIBUTION

If the statistician has made an intellectual and scientific contribution to your project then co-authorship of resulting papers is appropriate. If the statistician is a co-author, please ensure they approve the manuscript before submission. Co-authorship has to do with intellectual contribution and therefore is an issue completely independent from financial considerations. It cannot be used as payment in kind. Neither is payment a substitute for co-authorship.

Failure to recognise the intellectual contributions of others is plagiarism. It is defined by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) as follows:

"Plagiarism is the use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source. The intent and effect of plagiarism is to mislead the reader as to the contributions of the plagiarizer. This applies whether the ideas or words are taken from abstracts, research grant applications, Institutional Review Board applications, or unpublished or published manuscripts in any publication format (print or electronic). Plagiarism is scientific misconduct and should be addressed as such."

OTHER CONTACTS

For a project at Design Stage:  Please contact Research Design Service.

For a Clinical Trials Project from Design Stage: Please contact Dr Claire Smith  in Imperial Clinical Trials Unit.