Expectations and Eligibility

Who is eligible?

All University of Minnesota faculty, staff, and students are eligible, although researchers from CEHD and AHC will first be referred to the statistical consulting organizations within those units, ORCS and BDAC, respectively.

What kinds of projects are eligible?

Any project of scientific or educational research within the University of Minnesota is eligible for this service. Consulting is not available for questions regarding classwork or non-university projects. We also do not provide support for statistical packages and database management except in the context of specific research projects.

What is expected from clients?

Clients are not expected to already understand the statistical issues they face, or even to have any statistical background at all. Clients should be able to fully explain their experiment or study, including how the data was collected and a basic overview of the scientific issues involved.

Additionally, we expect collegial and respectful interaction between users and consultants, and it is always appropriate to recognize the role of the Statistical Consulting Service in your research. Co-authorship of papers can be appropriate when the consultant in the Service provides significant input to a final research product; otherwise a statement of acknowledgement similar to the following may be appropriate:

"The Statistical Consulting Service at the University of Minnesota and in particular [name the consultant] helped with the design and analysis of this experiment [or study or project]."

Articles: Please send copies of all articles that recognize the Statistical Consulting Service to clinic@stat.umn.edu, or by regular mail to Sanford Weisberg, School of Statistics, 312 Ford Hall, Minneapolis Campus.