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Statistical Consulting

Ian Bercovitz, Director

OVERVIEW

The Statistical Consulting Service (SCS) was formed in 1980 to promote more effective links between academic statisticians and applied researchers. Today, the SCS is involved in copious research problems spanning a wide range of application areas.

 

Goals

  1. To provide expert statistical advice to individuals involved in data-based research projects.
  2. To promote links between the statistical education program at SFU and individuals involved in data-based research.
  3. To improve the quality of both data-based research and the teaching of graduate students in statistics.

Resources

  • The SCS has ready access to a variety of modern computing facilities and software.
  • The SCS has a full-time director, who is a qualified statistical consultant.
  • Statistics faculty contribute to the SCS; their combined experience includes a full spectrum of statistical application areas and statistical techniques.
  • SCS staff have access to other university resources that can be arranged on a contractual basis.

What can we do for you?

  • Design experiments or surveys
  • Determine required sample sizes
  • Suggest software for statistical analyses
  • Advise on graphical data summaries
  • Suggest inferential techniques when appropriate
  • Assess study protocols in grant applications
  • Advise on quality assurance and reliability methods
  • Offer short courses

Examples of completed projects

  • Modelling the distribution of pulp fibre length
  • Study of ventilation in humans during exercise
  • Effects of mild anesthesia on the thermoregulatory response during cold exposure in humans
  • Career profile of women scientists in B.C.
  • Parental decision-making for student recruitment into early French immersion
  • Sediment discharge regimes of B.C. rivers
  • Comparison of diets for salmon nutrition
  • Mark-recapture method of estimating size of a criminal population from police records
  • Analysis of DNA damage in bladder cells

What does it cost?

Unfortunately, the service receives no subsidies from the University, Faculty, or Department and must operate on a full cost-recovery basis.

Task assessment, advice, and minor assistance are free; work resulting in co-authorship is also usually free. Major assistance is charged at competitive rates. For more detailed information on costs, call (778) 782-4670.

For more information about our service, please call us at (778) 782-4670, or e-mail us at stat_scs@sfu.ca,
or contact us by snail-mail at:

Statistical Consulting Service
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6