Consulting

Regressions keeping you up at night? Maybe your statistical software is behaving erratically again? Let the Applied Statistics Center, ISERP, and the Statistics Department help. We offer free statistical consulting to faculty, graduate students, and others in the Columbia community who are engaged in social science and public policy research. We can help with study design, development of analysis strategy, data analysis, and/or reporting/interpretation of results.

So that you’re assigned the right consultant for the job, make sure that you have the following information:

  • Your department or organization at Columbia;
  • Your research hypothesis or study objectives;
  • The study design or data collection method;
  • Nature of the data (including a description of relevant variables, data structure, and data type;
  • Statistical methods or models with which you intend to analyze your data);
  • What software package(s) you are using;
  • What type of consulting you need:
    • Study design,
    • Development of analysis strategy,
    • Data analysis,
    • Reporting/interpretation of results;
  • Your timeline.

We offer several ways of getting statistical help:

  • ISERP statistical consulting
    For more information about statistical consulting through ISERP, please click here. This service is ideal if you need help with your statistical software and getting your analysis running. To arrange a consultation, you can e-mail us. One of our statistical consultants will get back to you, generally within one business day. (Unfortunately, inquiries cannot be taken by phone.)
  • Statistics Ph.D. students
    For statistical consulting through the Statistics department, see this consulting web page for more information. The Statistics faculty and Ph.D. students who run this service can give advice on your statistical designs and analyses.
  • Statistics M.A. students
    If you are looking for a consultant to help you with your questions and run analyses, let us know; we have a list of Statistics MA students who can help for pay.
  • Playroom time
    On Tuesdays from 2:15pm-5:15pm, several of us from the Applied Statistics Center are available in the Playroom (IAB 707). You can stop in during that time with questions and we will direct you to the right place.
  • Biostatistics consulting
    To contact the Biostatistics department for statistical help, see their web page.
  • EDS
    Electronic Data Services (EDS) provides assistance in finding and putting data into useable form for statistical analyses.