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3550 Rackham Building University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070 cscar@umich.edu
more info
Background
CSCAR is a service and research unit of the University of Michigan, administratively located in
The College of Literature, Science, and
the Arts. Its staff provides statistical services to faculty, primary researchers, graduate students and staff of the University for up to one hour per week at no charge. For additional statistical service options, click here.
Cancellation Policy: To schedule an appointment with a consultant, please call our office at 764-7828 (4-STAT). If you need to cancel your appointment, we kindly request that you call or e-mail our office no less than 24 hours prior to your scheduled time. Last minute cancellations and no-call/no-shows take away valuable consulting time from your fellow CSCAR clients. Failure to provide sufficient notice of cancellation is an immense disservice to other clients and may result in a loss of privileges.
CSCAR emphasizes an integrated, comprehensive statistical consulting service, covering all aspects of a quantitative research project ranging from the initial study design through to the presentation of the final research conclusions. More specifically, CSCAR offers the following services:
Return to Top Appointment Policy Walkin Policy
Proposal Presentation and Study Design
CSCAR's staff provides free consulting services on the statistical aspects of research grants and/or contract proposals. These include design and sampling methods, power and sample size calculations, and choice of statistical methodology.
Researchers are encouraged to make contact with CSCAR early in the planning process of a quantitative study. Consulting may involve power calculations and help in determining sample sizes needed to achieve various degrees of precision for sample estimators. Sample size software is also available at CSCAR for use by clients. Statistical advice on matters of measurement or instrument design is also provided.
Dataset Consulting
CSCAR provides advice on database design and management, as well as on transferring datasets across platforms (e.g., Mac to PC) and across software (e.g., SPSS to SAS).
Choice of Statistical Methods
CSCAR provides consulting services regarding the choice of appropriate and contemporary statistical methodology.
Use of Statistical Software
CSCAR maintains a staff of consultants to help researchers implement statistical methodology using one or more of the standard statistical computer programs. At present these programs include SAS, SPSS, SYSTAT, S-Plus, Stata, R, HLM, LISREL, and AMOS. Support is also available on each platform for which the programs are written, including Windows, UNIX, and Macintosh.
Interpretation of Results
CSCAR's staff assists researchers in interpreting the results of various statistical methods and in determining what conclusions are statistically justifiable.
Presentation of Results
CSCAR's staff offers advice on presenting the results of statistical analyses, including graphical presentation.
Collaborative Research
For projects that require more statistical services than CSCAR can offer without charge, CSCAR and its staff are available to submit joint, collaborative research grant/contract proposals or to enter into subcontract agreements. Such agreements might cover any or all of the various statistical/quantitative aspects of the research.
Workshops
CSCAR presents workshops on statistical methods and statistical software. SAS and SPSS workshops, as well as a statistics review workshop, are offered each fall and winter. Other recent workshops include: Calculating Sample Size, Structural Equation Modeling, Missing Data, and Survival Analysis.
Remote Consulting
University of Michigan's CSCAR can provide remote consulting if necessary. CSCAR uses software called Centra to allow CSCAR consultants to view clients' computer screens and provide input on software problems. "Whiteboard" is also available within Centra, which in conjunction with a phone conversation, can substitute for a face-to-face meeting.
Client Requirements for Remote Consulting
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
University of Michigan's Spatial Analysis/GIS Initiative
CSCAR is developing expertise in the statistical aspect of GIS. In particular, software and expertise in modeling spatial data, including variogram estimation and kriging, is available.
Professional Staff
- Edward D. Rothman, Ph.D.
- Director and Professor of Statistics
- Quality control, design of experiments, time series.
- Brenda W. Gillespie, Ph.D.
- Associate Director
- Survival analysis, design of experiments, regression
- modeling, clinical trials.
- Kenneth Guire, M.A.
- Statistician Staff Specialist
- Study design, general linear modeling.
- Danielle Gwinn, M.A.
- Geographical Information Science Consultant
- Spatial Analysis, Geographical Information Systems (ArcView, ArcGIS, PCI).
- Joe Kazemi, M.A.
- Statistical Consultant
- SPSS, SAS, R, STATA, Minitab, Data Management,
- Regression, ANOVA.
- Hyungjin Myra Kim, Sc.D.
- Associate Research Scientist
- Clinical trials, medical decision making, technology
- assessment, health services research.
- Laura Klem, A.B.
- Senior Research Associate
- Structural equations, path analysis, LISREL/AMOS.
- Heidi Reichert, M.A.
- Statistical Consultant
- SPSS, SAS, R, STATA, Minitab, Regression, ANOVA.
- Ananda Sen, Ph.D.
- Associate Research Scientist
- Survival Analysis, Industrial Statistics, Reliability.
- Nidhi Talwar, M.B.A., M.A.
- Statistical Consultant
- SPSS, SAS, Regression, ANOVA,
- categorical data analysis, data management.
- Kathleen Welch, M.S., M.P.H.
- Statistical Consultant
- SAS, SYSTAT, JMP, data management, regression modeling.
- Brady West, B.S., M.A.
- Statistical Consultant
- SPSS, SAS, R, STATA, data management,
- Regression/ANOVA, Analysis of Sample Survey Data.
- Lingling Zhang, M.A.
- Statistical Consultant, SPSS, Stata, SAS, NVivo, survey
- sampling, statistical computing, categorical data analysis.
Faculty Associates
- Charles Kowalski, Ph.D.
- Professor of Dentistry
- Multivariate methods, longitudinal data analysis,
- clinical measurement of pain.
- James Lepkowski, Ph.D.
- Senior Research Scientist, SRC
- Professor, Biostatistics
- Survey sampling.
- Rod Little, Ph.D.
- Professor of Biotatistics
- Missing data.
- Vijay Nair, Ph.D.
- Professor of Statistics
- Design of experiments, reliability.
- Trivellore Raghunathan, Ph.D.
- Senior Research Scientist, SRC
- Professor, Biostatistics
- Survey sampling, missing data.
- George Michailidis, Ph.D
- Professor, Statistics
- Professor, EECS
- Multivariate analysis, Applied Probability
- Kerby Shedden, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor, Statistics
- High dimensional data sets, statistical computing
CSCAR's Computing Resources
The ITCS site in CSCAR consists of four PCs and one Mac. The statistical and GIS software packages that the PCs have are:
- Amos 6
- MATLAB 7.0
- R 2.3.1
- SAS 9.1.3
- SPSS 14.0
- StataSE9.2
- ArcGIS 9.1
- ArcView GIS 3.3
The Mac has:
- MATLAB 7.0
- R 2.3.1
- SPSS 13.0
Computers are available during regular CSCAR hours on a walk-in basis.
The CSCAR library PC has statistical packages, including sample-size software, that the ITCS machines may not have. This includes:
- PASS 2002
- SPSS 14.0 and 15.0
- Stata 9.2
- SAS 9.1.3
- Amos 5 and 6
- R 2.5.1
- IVEware
- nQuery Advisor 6.0
The library PC can be used from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday when it is not in use by CSCAR consultants or, for your convenience, may be reserved on Mondays-Thursdays from 7-9pm by calling the front desk at (734)764-STAT.
For a complete listing of statistical, GIS and other software that is loaded on lab machines across campus, please visit the Campus Computing Sites Software List. Locations and hours of operation information for all Campus Computing Sites can be found on Campus Computing Sites web site.
Other Information
CSCAR is located in room 3550 of the Rackham Building, on the University of Michigan Main Campus (directions.) Statistical consulting is available by phone, drop-in visit, or email. More in-depth statistical consulting is available by appointment. Collaborative/joint research should be arranged with the CSCAR director, Edward D. Rothman, or Associate Director, Brenda W. Gillespie.