Procedure

Who is eligible?

Faculty and graduate students from the College of Education & Human Services (CEHS) are eligible to receive both free and fee-based methodological assistance from the OMDS. Researchers from outside the CEHS and Utah State University are also welcome to receive our fee-based services.

How to Apply?

For any help other than walk-in consultation, you will need to fill out the consulting request form and submit it via email, drop it by the OMDS during operating hours, or deliver to UMC 2810. Please contact us if you have any questions about the form. A consultant will contact you within a few working days to arrange for an initial meeting after receiving the form. Please bring a signed copy of page 2 of the form to the initial meeting.

The Initial Meeting

The purpose of this meeting is to describe the relevant background, research methods, and goals of the project to the consultants. The consultants must learn enough about your project to effectively help with the design of the research or analysis of the data. We will get an overview of the project and decide upon a general approach for the design and analysis. Your consultants will arrange for additional meetings as necessary, and will also be available to answer questions by telephone and email. You can prepare for the initial meeting by bringing along information that will help the consultant understand your research, including:

• Research objectives or primary (and secondary) aims of the study
• Hypotheses
• Design issues
• Data collection methods and instruments
• Primary independent (predictor) and dependent (outcome) variables, if applicable
• Statistical software issues
• Progress to date
• Time constraints for design, analysis, or reporting
• Prior sample size estimations
• Other concerns that you have

Frequently, OMDS consultants are asked to assist in conducting sample size estimations for IRB or grant applications purposes. For these situations, if the information is provided in advance, it may be possible to provide you with sample size calculations based on a variety of scenarios prior to the meeting, which will then be discussed further during the meeting. The sample sizes for more complicated designs are probably best discussed during the initial meeting. For basic designs, please see our sample size analysis worksheet and complete as much as possible. Either send this worksheet along with the application for services or bring it to the initial meeting. In any case, the following information is useful in conducting an effective sample size analysis:

• The precise details of the primary aim of the study
• The effect size you are attempting to detect, i.e. what difference, change, rate, percent is practically important?
• The standard deviations of the means if you are comparing groups
• Any limitation on the number of subjects you will be able to recruit within the study time-scale