The first association that comes to mind when people hear the term “statistical analysis” is calculating the magic P-value. And for many people, this is where statistical analysis ends…
Nothing could be further from the truth!
A correctly and reliably conducted statistical analysis must include a number of background steps, but more about them in a moment.
And broadly understood statistical assistance can encompass even more.
We offer comprehensive statistical services and we are with our clients until the finish line, e.g. their dissertation defense or the publication of their article.
Our offer always includes:
(that is, appropriate coding of variables, calculating indicators, creating additional variables, if necessary)
(depending on the collected data – sociodemographic variables, etc.)
to answer the posed research questions and hypotheses
(e.g. normality of distribution, equal sample size, outliers, homogeneity of variance))
verification of the posed research questions and hypotheses
in a manner consistent with the standards of statistical calculations presentation (e.g. APA dla analiz z zakresu psychologii), for analyses in the field of psychology),
in Polish or English, together with the description, interpretation and additional comments, so that the results are not only correctly presented, but also easily understandable
up to the day of your dissertation defense, your presentation at a conference or the publication of your article (including additional explanations, assistance in answering questions from the Client, a thesis supervisor or reviewers regarding statistical methodology applied, the results of statistical analysis or the interpretation of the results)
Our experience shows that, unfortunately, not every experience you have with a statistician is a pleasant one.
Therefore, below you will find a few tips that will help you choose the right person to whom you entrust the statistical analysis of your valuable research.
The list was created based on conversations and cooperation with our Clients.
Intuitively, we begin our search for a statistician among our friends. As a result, we often end up with our friend’s sister, their neighbor, their sister-in-law, etc. This is not to say that all these paths are bad, or that this person never knows what they’re doing.
But in our experience, we are often approached by Clients who start the conversation with: “There was someone who was supposed to do the statistics for me, but… they haven’t had time for a year, they started but never finished, they have limited availability, they’re not contactable, etc.” Remember that such people often do your assignment after work, or after they’re done spending time with their family. As a result, the analysis may take a year, or the contact breaks off completely, because they changed their mind. Or someone started preparing their analysis only to abandon it halfway through (often after collecting an advance for the assignment, or even the full payment…)
Additionally, you have no guarantee that such a person actually has proper educational background in statistics. These are often people who only picked up a bit of statistics, e.g. for their master’s thesis, or on some basic statistics course held by their university. You have no guarantee that their analysis will be reliable and properly done. How do we know this? Because we are often approached by people with a half-baked analysis and a request for us to finish it.
There is one solution – look for a professional company! Search for someone who does not deal with statistics on a casual basis, but deals with it every day. Would you like to be medically treated by someone who learned from Google how to treat gastric problems? We know that doctors are annoyed by patients who come to them with a ready diagnosis from the Internet. We feel the same way when we’re faced with half-baked staistical analyses.
So do not make the same mistake of outsourcing your statistical calculations to a random person. Find a company or somebody running their own a statistics-related business. It will guarantee that this person REALLY cares, because, after all, it is their own livelihood that is at stake, and dissatisfied customers can simply ruin their reputation. It will also give you certainty that this person has at least decent knowledge of statistics and uses legal software.
Make sure beforehand what exactly you will receive as the end result of the statistical analysis. What do we mean by that? Find out for yourself by comparing the two examples of actual statistical studies shown below.
The first one is an excerpt from a 100+ page study which contained only tables copied and pasted from statistical software (an actual analysis I once received from one of my Clients, obviously not done by us). The second example also preents an actual assignment – but this time done by Statistics for You. The differences are obvious straight away. You need to think about which version YOU prefer!
How long are you allowed to have questions about the prepared analysis? After all, your thesis supervisor or reviewer will ask questions….
There are companies/persons who allow you to ask questions about the prepared analysis only for a certain period of time, for example, for 14 days!!! In our experience, this is very short.
At Statistics for You, we are at your disposal until the very end of your journey with a given assignment – your dissertation defense, your conference or the cceptance of your article for publication – and we help with all statistical questions from your thesis supervisor or reviewers. It doesn’t matter to us if it takes 2 weeks or 2 years.
Do not agree to advance payments. Be sure to check when the payment is due for statistical assistance, and whether the selected statistician can issue an invoice or a bill. This is crucial if it’s a university or hospital that is paying for the statistical analysis.