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Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Requests for statistical advice

BSMS > Research > Primary care and public health > Requests for statistical advice

Requests for statistical advice

Please complete our form below to request statistical advice. Please read the information on this page before you submit the form.

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Statistical advice for BSMS staff and research students

If you are a researcher working with quantitative data, you either need to be statistically competent, consult a statistician, or both! Wherever possible, we recommend costing statistician time into your project; we can advise on this. Please complete our online form to request a Statistics Clinic appointment with one of our team. However, we appreciate that unfunded one-off or occasional advice may suffice or be your only option. 

Statistics Clinic is for BSMS staff and research students to access such support free of charge. If you are eligible for this service, please read the guidance below and complete the form to book a one-to-one appointment which can be held either online or in-person. Should you have any queries about this service, please email us at Statistics.Clinic@bsms.ac.uk. 

Please note, if you are a medical student undertaking your Independent Research Project, statistical advice is provided by statisticians at the University of Brighton (see the Module 404 IRP Student and Staff Handbook for arrangements).

Statisical advice request form

Please complete our form below to request statistical advice.

  • Are you registered for a PhD/MPhil/MD?
  • Is a member of BSMS staff involved in the study?
  • Advice sought (tick all that apply)

 


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Tips to get the most out of your appointment

  • We may not be familiar with your area of research, so be prepared to give a jargon-free general overview of your project. 
  • Please provide as much detail as possible when filling out the form so we can best prepare for your appointment.
  • You can bring your data with you – either on you own laptop or on a USB stick. If bringing data on a USB stick, let us know so we can ensure we have access to a computer.
  • Data can be in Excel, SPSS, Stata or GraphPad formats, or as a plain-text file (.csv files etc.).
  • For sample size calculations, we need to know what outcome variable the calculation will be based on, have estimates of its expected values (e.g. mean or proportion) and variability (e.g. standard deviation), as appropriate, and how many groups there will be (e.g. treatment and control).  If your study is longitudinal, you will likely need to factor in attrition over time. Please consider these quantities before your appointment. 

General tips on quantitative research and working with statisticians

  • The most efficient route to learn new statistical and research methods, and acquire a grounding in the necessary data management skills, is to sign up to one or more of the dozens of established short courses offered by experts at numerous institutions and companies around the country. Note, most of these courses charge a fee to attend and that other institutions not listed may also offer courses that meet your needs. Please click here for more information.
  • Statistician(s) should be consulted or involved, as appropriate, from project design through to final publication.
  • Data collection should be planned and performed carefully. If not, extensive data cleaning will likely be required before analysis; this can be extremely time consuming. We can provide advice on how to design data collection tools to minimise the amount of data cleaning that you will need to do at the end.
  • Handling dates and missing data are two common areas for potential pitfalls; we are happy to advise.
  • Allow plenty of time for planning and conducting analysis in projects – this is often more time consuming than expected.
  • Keep detailed records of decisions made during the project (e.g. what to do with an unexpected measurement) so that their effect on the analysis can be considered.
  • Even seemingly simple questions can require a considerable amount of data manipulation and statistical work to answer them.
  • Don’t leave anything till the last minute! We are unlikely to be able to advise you at short notice and the amount of work required to do your problem justice may not be possible before your deadline.