Statistics Help Desk
The following questions are only applicable to the Statistics Help Desk. You can see details about our survey research services here.
Can I get help with my coursework?
No, please consult your course instructor and teaching assistants.
Can I get help with thesis and dissertation research?
Consultants may assist students undertaking thesis and dissertation research with:
- translating research questions and hypotheses into statistical terms,
- designing sampling procedures,
- choosing appropriate statistical methods,
- interpreting outputs from a statistical computer program, and
- phrasing statistical results.
In general, consultants will provide statistical advice but are not responsible for any deadlines. It is not intended that the SCSRU carry out the statistical analyses for Masters or Ph.D. theses.
What sorts of assistance are inappropriate?
In general, it is not appropriate for a consultant to:
- decide on the hypotheses of the research,
- analyze the student's data, or
- write computer-program setups for the students
We have a wider latitude in assisting faculty and staff with their research. However, extensive data analysis services should be contracted. In some cases, we may connect you with faculty members and graduate students within the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
Does the SCSRU provide computer assistance?
The consultants can provide advice on the selection of R functions and packages. However, we do not carry out the analysis or implement codes for students.
Does the SCSRU provide support online?
Our consultants are able to conduct office hours through Zoom. This service is by-appointment only. Appointments can be scheduled online.
What video conferencing tool do I need?
We use Zoom for all appointments. Please register an account with Zoom and download the free version before the scheduled appointment.
Where is the meeting link?
If you made an appointment over video conferencing tool, the consultant will send a meeting link to your email account 10 minutes before the start time of the appointment. In the event that the consultant has back-to-back appointments, the email may arrive 10 minutes later than the scheduled start time. Please make sure to check your junk folder to make sure the email is not lost.
Please contact us if you were unable to reach the consultant during the time of the appointment.
How to contact the consultant prior to your appointment?
After you have made an appointment with one of the consultants, you may email relevant materials to the consultant. If the materials contain any information or result of your research, please take appropriate measures to ensure data confidentiality before sending them to the consultant.
Do I have to pay for help?
In general, services are provided free-of-charge to members of the university but there are some limits. Services that involve extensive staff time, continuing assistance or services which go beyond normal consulting must be paid for. For such services, please contact us for quotations and agreements. Clients external to the University of Waterloo must pay for services.
Under some circumstances, and by mutual agreement, the consultant will be regarded as a collaborator on the research, and a co-author on publications that depend on the statistical analyses carried out at the SCSRU. In these cases, the consulting fee may be partially or wholly waived.
What will the initial consultation be like?
An initial consultation usually takes half an hour to an hour. Consultation begins with clients summarizing their research and goals. It is generally useful for the consultant to understand the purpose and context of your research, rather than viewing your work as an abstract statistical problem. It is also helpful to prepare a checklist of what you would like to accomplish during the first meeting. There are times when a consultant may need to do work outside of the consulting sessions to answer a client’s questions. The consultant will arrange for follow-up consultation.
Contacted by the SCSRU?
The Statistical Consulting and Survey Research Unit at the University of Waterloo conducts telephone, online, mail and face-to face surveys for academic research purposes. You may have been contacted recently to complete one of our surveys. Please be assured that we are not telemarketers nor do we ask for money.
HOW DID YOU GET MY PHONE NUMBER?
To achieve high standards of research data quality, most studies require contacting a random sample of the general public. If you received a telephone call from us, we likely obtained your number from a list that was randomly generated by a computer and do not have any information about your household other than the phone number. For some studies, such as customer satisfaction surveys, we may have been provided with a list of possible participants by the researchers.
Telephone surveys are conducted by live, trained interviewers who use a centralized computer-assisted telephone interviewing system. To ensure the quality of the data collected, supervisors may monitor interviews in progress.
We may call a phone number as many as 10 times during a study. This may happen on varying days of the week and at different times of the day in an attempt to reach someone to complete one of our surveys.
WHY IS THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO SHOWING UP ON MY TELEPHONE CALL DISPLAY?
We may call a phone number as many as 10 times during a study. This may happen on varying days of the week and at different times of the day in an attempt to reach someone to complete one of our surveys.
The SCSRU is only one department at the University of Waterloo that may be contacting you. It is possible that you may receive phone calls from other departments such as Alumni Relations. The University of Waterloo will show up on your call display if a call is made from any department within the University.
WHY DO YOU WANT TO CONDUCT A SURVEY WITH MY HOUSEHOLD?
For most of our surveys, collecting a cross section of opinions from the general public is very important, no matter whether you know a lot, or very little, about the survey topic. There are no right or wrong answers and you do not have to answer any questions that you don’t want to. Many of our survey respondents find the surveys to be fun and informative.
Your opinion is very important to us. The results from the surveys are often used to help decision makers such as government agencies, health agencies and academic institutions to form policies and improve services for the public.
WHO WILL SEE THE DATA THAT YOU COLLECT FROM MY HOUSEHOLD?
All the information that you provide will be kept completely confidential. Only the researchers involved in the project will have access to the data. The data are de-identified by the SCSRU prior to giving it to the researchers, so even the researchers will not be able to connect survey responses to specific households. When the results are reported, survey answers are grouped so that individual participants and their answers cannot be identified.
IF THE DATA ARE CONFIDENTIAL, WHY DO YOU ASK FOR MY NAME?
We only need your first name so that we are able to keep track of survey respondents during the random selection process. If you are not available to do the survey at the time that we call, we can then call back at a more convenient time. Knowing your first name makes it easier, and more polite, when we call back.
WHY DO YOU ASK FOR THE PERSON IN MY HOUSEHOLD WITH THE NEXT BIRTHDAY?
When conducting a survey that requires a random sample of the general population, we need to be able to give every adult in the household a chance to be selected for the survey. Thus we cannot always decide to speak to the first person who answers the phone. In order to give every adult in the household a chance to be selected, we ask to speak to the adult in the household with the next birthday since any adult living in the household could have the next birthday.
HAS THE STUDY BEEN APPROVED?
Most of the studies that are conducted by the SCSRU have received ethics clearance through a research ethics committee from at least one ethics review board, and this will be stated in the introduction to the survey. Most studies conducted by researchers from the University of Waterloo have received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo research ethics committee.
WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ONE OF YOUR SURVEYS?
You are welcome to email us or call our call centre toll-free at 1-866-303-2822 to leave a message. We would be happy to provide you with the contact name and information of the study researchers.
MY PHONE NUMBER IS REGISTERED ON THE NATIONAL “DO NOT CALL LIST”, WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME?
Because we are conducting survey research, we are exempt from the National Do Not Call List operated by the Government of Canada. We are not telemarketers, nor do we ask for money. In fact, we occasionally offer incentives to people who are eligible and willing to complete some of our surveys. If you are not interested in completing a survey with us and would like to be added to our own internal "do not call list", please fill out the opt out form or call us toll-free at 1-866-303-2822 to leave a message. Please provide the phone number that we contacted - including the area code - to ensure you don't receive any more unwanted calls from the SCSRU.
HOW CAN I OPT OUT OF SURVEY RESEARCH?
If you are not interested in completing a survey with us, please fill out the opt out form or call us toll-free at 1-866-303-2822 to leave a message. Please include the phone number (including the area code), email or mail address that was contacted in your message to ensure you don't receive any more unwanted contact from the SCSRU. Please allow 2-3 business days before your contact information is removed from our list.