The CRCHUM offers a consultation service in biostatistics. Its mission is to provide research teams with help for the statistical component of their research activities—design and development of new projects, grant applications, data analysis and interpretation of results, and their publication.

This service is also available to researchers from other academic, hospital and industrial settings.

For more information or to make an appointment, please contact Marie-Pierre Sylvestre, (514) 890-8000, ext: 15907.

Timeline : During the initial contact, please indicate when you would like to see the work completed. Since the demand for consultations is quite high, 10 working days are generally required before work can begin on your project.  Please note that priority is given to CRCHUM researchers, investigators, students, postdoctoral fellows and research personnel.

Services
Software
Workshops
Rates and billing
User Guide (please read before making an appointment)
Information

SERVICES

Project planning
Preparation of grant applications and proposals
Data analysis
Preparation of articles and reports

Project planning

• Choice and development of design to be used to answer the research question.
• Plan for data collection and coding
• Plan for statistical analysis
• Data analysis
• Help in interpreting results

Preparation of grant applications and protocols

• Writing/editing of the statistical component of grant applications or protocols (English or French)
• Evaluation of budget for statistics to be included in a grant application

Data analysis

• Choice and comparison of tests or appropriate models for the research question and collected data
• Verification of hypotheses underlying the statistical methods and inferences
• Interpretation of results
• Efficient visualization of results
• Processing of aberrant or missing values
• Development of new methods (long-term)

For all data analysis requests, please comply with the following rules to facilitate their transfer to R (the software package used). Doing so will considerably reduce the billable time required to produce your report.

Excel files:

• Do not include macros or links between worksheets;
• Save the file in CSV format (click on File, Save as, File type);
• Use short names for variables, without spaces, without accents and without any of the following characters: + - . ! < > = _
• Do not use colour to identify a category of subjects; instead, use a categorical variable;
  When a datum is missing, leave the cell empty (do not write NA or X or .).

SPSS, SAS, Stata, or other files (except R):

• Save the file in CSV format (click on File, Save as, File type);
• Use short names for variables, without spaces, without accents and without any of the following characters: + - . ! < > = _

N.B. – To preserve confidentiality, do not forget to remove identifying details from your data.

Preparation of articles and reports

• Help with writing the methodology and results sections of scientific papers and articles (English or French)
• Help with analyses and interpretations required in article revisions
• Help with additional analyses by article reviewers.

SOFTWARE

The main tool is R, a programming and statistical analysis language. This tool is free and can be downloaded from http://www.r-project.org/. R benefits from a dynamic user community that regularly improves R extensions, making it possible to improve its functionalities and modelling possibilities. These extensions and their code are freely available and encompass a wide variety of statistical tests and models. R also has several graphical functions and can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux.

As well, help with other software, such as SAS, is available for researchers using software other than R.

WORKSHOPS

Statistics workshops will be held from time to time to meet the needs of CRCHUM researchers and students.

RATES AND BILLING

Rates

The following rates are effective as of January 1^st 2012  

*The CRCHUM hourly rate is offered to CRCHUM regular and associate researchers and their research teams (students, postdoctoral fellows & research personnel). Eligible regular and associate researchers are those who are registered as such with the CRCHUM and with the FRQS and who have an active research account at the CRCHUM.

Services are billed on a half-hourly basis, with a minimum of 30 minutes. Billable time includes consultation appointments, review of all necessary documents prior to the consultation, review of all relevant scientific literature, all requested analyses and writing, time devoted to all other contacts (telephone, email) related to the consultation, and all other requests for expertise. The initial contact for requesting a consultation is not billed.

Billing
Invoices are issued when the work is concluded, or on a monthly basis for longer consultations.

For researchers with a research account at the CRCHUM, the account will be debited the amount of the invoice following the client’s approval, i.e., the client will receive the invoice and will be contacted for that purpose by the CRCHUM’s administrative services).

For all other clients, the invoice must paid by the client upon receipt, by cheque (made out to Centre de recherche du CHUM). Under no circumstances will the CRCHUM agree to bill a third party for services rendered.

INFORMATION

For more information about available services or to make an appointment for a consultation, please contact: Marie-Pierre Sylvestre (marie-pierre.sylvestre.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca), (514) 890-8000, extension: 15907.