Research Consultation:
Research Consultation is available to investigators for defining study objectives, identifying study populations and sample design, developing survey instruments or evaluating appropriate survey methods. Cost estimates are supplied upon request.
Statistical Consulting Services:
SRS is a unit within the ISU Statistical Laboratory. The Statistical Laboratory provides statistical consulting services that are available to all ISU faculty. SRS provides statistical consulting services in areas that are of special importance to faculty in the social and behavioral sciences such as: questionnaire design, analysis of survey data, the design and analysis of experiments involving human subjects, program evaluation, quasi-experimental design, meta-analysis, psychometric reliability and validity studies, regression and econometric analysis, factor analysis, structural equation modeling, mediation analysis, latent growth curve modeling, power analysis, sample size requirements, and assistance with SPSS.
Fees: The first two hours of collaboration are free of charge. Subsequent collaborative efforts are billed at a negotiated hourly rate.
SRS consultants and their areas of consulting expertise are listed below. Simple questions often can be answered by email correspondence. More complicated problems usually require a meeting with a consultant. Please make the initial contact with a consultant through email.
Project staff design materials, including survey instruments, focus group questions, cover letters and training materials. In addition, staff routinely review and provide feedback questionnaires prepared by clients.
Data Collection:
SRS has the staff and capacity to collect data in a variety of modes. The staff has significant experience in implementing complex data collection plans and in collecting multimode data. Data collecting methods include:
- Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
- Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)
- Audio Computer Assisted Self Interviewing (ACASI)
- In-person interviewing with paper questionnaires
- Video or audio behavioral assessments
- In-school assessments
- Cognitive interviewing
- Mail Surveys
- Web Surveys
- Focus Groups
Data Processing:
Data processing services include both data coding and data entry with verification
Sample Management:
Staff have extensive experience in the development and maintenance of samples for longitudinal studies, clinical trials, and other types of research studies.
Confidentiality & Quality Control:
Confidentiality and quality control are a high priority at SRS. All research procedures are conducted with the utmost regard for accuracy and confidentiality. Telephone interviews are reviewed online through a silent monitoring system to ensure high data quality standards, interviews are edited for accuracy, and double-entry procedures are used in data processing.