Initiating a Collaboration or Consultation

Users initiate engagement by submitting an online intake form with project information. CSTAT acknowledges requests within one business day and assigns a statistician or team with relevant expertise, subject to availability. An initial meeting is provided at no cost to define scope, methods, deliverables, and timelines. Support may be provided virtually or in person, based on user preference.

Scope of Work (SOW)

For fee based work, CSTAT provides a written Scope of Work (SOW) outlining project goals, deliverables, data responsibilities, milestones, estimated effort and costs, and change control procedures. Users must review and approve the SOW prior to the start of work.

User Responsibilities

CSTAT users are the domain experts for their projects. Active user participation is necessary to achieve high quality outcomes. Users are expected to attend an initial meeting, respond to communications in a timely manner, adhere to applicable MSU research policies, and acknowledge contributions appropriately. When applicable, users will provide data and respond to questions needed to support analyses. Users are responsible for archiving any data files they deem necessary to preserve.

Quality Assurance

CSTAT maintains internal peer review of planned analyses for complex projects, promotes methodological standards, and tracks project performance metrics to support continuous quality improvement. Timelines depend on receipt of complete inputs from users.