CSTAT Services
CSTAT Information page [pdf version]
CSTAT provides online support (video calls) or in-person support. Please indicate your preference when scheduling a meeting. We are happy to talk to you about your research needs!
CSTAT statisticians have expertise in multiple areas of statistics. We provide support in all phases of research projects including planning, analysis, and reporting (manuscript, report, or visualization and web application). Complex projects can be handled in teams of experts with complementary skills. To arrange for a meeting with CSTAT individual statisticians or teams, please submit this online form ("Schedule a meeting") to describe the project and what you need help with. You will get an email response when your request is on our task list (within one day) and we assign a statistician that best fits your need who will contact you for a meeting.
Grant proposals
CSTAT personnel serve as key personnel, co-investigators, or consultants on contracts and grants and can help with the grant proposal development, including sample size considerations, data management, and statistical methods writing. Grant proposal development is free, if CSTAT's statistics support is appropriately included in the post-award budget.
- power analysis
- data management
- statistical modeling
- data visualization
- grant proposal writing and reviewing
Process: Start with the online form "Schedule a meeting" and tell us about your project so that we can assign a statistician with matching experience. The initial meeting is free to discuss the research project, the proposed statistical methods, and the scope of the work. The minimum allotted time is 5-10% FTE for a CSTAT statistician per year of post award. CSTAT provides a budget. A good-faith effort is made by the CSTAT statistician to complete the work within the allotted time. Please contact CSTAT early in your planning stage.
If you only need a few hours of help and would like to include hourly rates, please contact us for current rates.
CSTAT Facilities Statement
Theses or dissertations
Many graduate students approach CSTAT needing statistical help for their research projects for their thesis or dissertation.
For some information on what such help could look like, check this FAQ.
MSU graduate students can receive
- free* statistical support up to 9 hours per year (July 1 to June 30) for their dissertation research depending on availability of consultants.
- free* additional hours are available for students from partnering colleges or departments (Partnerships are listed on the About page).
Such hours can encompass meetings to discuss the project; recommending methods, resources, or software; contact and communication time (in person, phone, or online), as well as time outside of meetings needed for data analysis, report writing, or other tasks deemed necessary. This will typically be done by CSTAT Research Assistants and depends on availability.
* Fees apply for dissertations that are part of funded grant projects (see Grant proposals section above)
Fees
MSU clients affiliated with CSTAT partners do not pay fees for statistics services covered by the partner.
Fees apply when: (1) CSTAT personnel are engaged as co-investigators or consultants on grant funded projects; (2) CSTAT personnel are collaborators on research projects or services not covered by partners; (3) Clients external to MSU.
This can be in the form of FTE, hourly rates (approved by MSU's financial office), or flat fee agreement for longer terms.
Initial meetings to determine scope of work and potential costs are free.
Hourly rates listed in the CSTAT Facilities Statement.
* Provide help on homework or course projects: Please contact your professor or TA.
* Solve difficult problems to meet imminent deadlines: Enough time needs to be allocated.
* Undergraduate research projects: The faculty member must submit the request, attend all meetings, and be the main person to communicate.
Testimonials
I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Guoli Zhou for his expertise and the time he dedicated to our education research project. His work and the clarity with which he explained the data were truly outstanding. We are incredibly grateful and would be delighted to collaborate with him again on future projects.John Zubek, Physiology
These services were so helpful when needed most! At the last stage of the publication process the editor required me to do a power analyses that no one on my research team knew how to do. Greg was super helpful and responsive guiding me through running the analysis. Thanks to his help, the publication has been accepted!
I absolutely love CSTAT. They are so helpful and allow me to learn about new methods and applications. It helps to have an "extra set of eyes" to check my work. I've worked with Wenjuan many times and she is absolutely amazing. She knows her methods and explains things well.
I am glad that we have CSTAT, and I hope it remains a service on campus for a long time to come. All of my interactions with CSTAT have been fruitful and useful. My research would not be possible without the training and services offered by CSTAT.
I'm a fan of CSTAT and have directed a range of people to connect with the center.
CSTAT is an absolute lifesaver. Without CSTAT I would not be graduating this semester, and if I knew about their services sooner, I would have graduated a semester earlier. The consultant at CSTAT was able to help me make sense of data that otherwise would have never seen the public eye.Savvas Constantinuou, PhD Candidate, Integrative Biology
Nicole has been nothing less than a life saver! She is calm and funny in the face of untangling, making sense of, and guiding me to have the analysis that I wanted/need. I am a 62 year old midwife working for the UN usually in Bangladesh and also working on a PhD in public health. Without Nicole there is no way I could have done the needed analysis! With her I am empowered, and some important information soon will be available to the global health community.Rondi Anderson
I had the absolute pleasure of having Andrew as my CSTAT consultant from February-August 2020, and he was AMAZING. First, our early encounters in Feb. really showed me that he knew his stuff. This made me feel very relaxed in this new endeavor. As a consultant, he did a great job of grasping my chemistry work and applying his statistical knowledge to meet my needs.Monique Noel, PhD Candidate, Chemistry
I would not have had such a unique Oral Examination in August, without the help of Andrew. His advice, critique, and holding me accountable helped me to apply my statistical knowledge in a way that was digestible to my audience, which have no statistical background.
I recently worked with Hope as my CSTAT consultant for my dissertation project. I wanted to write to let you know that I had a fantastic experience working with her. She was patient and kind, and she made sure to check in with me to make sure I had everything I needed. I found her to be very responsive by email. Additionally, she was willing to check over my code for measurement invariance, which was great because she helped me identify errors and troubleshoot. She also took the time to send me online resources to supplement my knowledge.Emily Bovee, Ph.D. Candidate, Educational Psychology and Educational Technology
I can say for certain that I would not have been able to complete my data analysis without Andrew, who was patient with me each week and helped me both through the analysis as well as helping my understanding of why everything was analysed the way it was.Jeff Shoemaker
I had the chance to work with the CSTAT consultants Hope and Bing on four projects between 2017 and 2019. They were very helpful in the survey design phase as well as the data analysis and hypothesis testing. They also provided me with additional resources that improved my understanding of the topics that we worked on during our meetings. Some of these resources included tutorials that walked me through a specific procedure. That is why I consider it as a fruitful consulting and a learning experience.
I am writing this to express how instrumental Andrew Dennhardt was in guiding me through the statistical analysis for my manuscript. I started working with Andrew late January 2020 and met with him each week until mid-February. I was blown away by Andrew’s knowledge with different statistical tests, their appropriate applications, and interpretations. He provided me with resources that were both informative and easy to understand. He created a positive, friendly, and professional working environment and was committed to making sure that I gained the information that I needed to complete my analysis. He was quick to follow up, respond to emails, and available to answer questions outside of our regular weekly meetings. It was refreshing to work with Andrew and I left each meeting with clear steps on how to move forward with my work. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for assistance with performing statistical analyses!Camille McCall, PhD Candidate, Environmental Engineering
Thank you for taking on and working on PCCAT2 [clustering tool]. It will benefit our staff for years to come.Arthur Ostaszweski, State of Michigan
Nicole has been a wonderful resource to the students, faculty, and staff at the College of Osteopathic Medicine. We especially appreciate her expertise in statistical analysis in support of student scholarly activity. Thank you, Nicole for all your help!Kirsten Waarala, Associate Dean for Medical Education, COM