The Statistics Department offers several types of free statistical consultation, via STAT 551, SOS and STAT 450/550, as follows:
- STAT 551: Term 1 only, open to anyone, via students in STAT 551 mentored by faculty; accepting projects for term 1 2022-23 from now until Oct 31
- SOS (Statistical Opportunity for Students): year-round, UBC-V graduate students only, via a team of a senior Statistical consultant and a Statistics graduate student
- STAT 450/550: Term 2 only, open to anyone, via students in STAT 450 mentored by faculty; accepting projects for term 2 2022-23 from Nov 1 – Dec 15
Submit your request for free consulting
Submit a required project description to ASDa by e-mail to
asda at stat dot ubc dot ca
(as an attached PDF file), with a subject line clearly indicating either STAT 551 or SOS or STAT 450/550 (see below for further details on each opportunity).
Your project description
See sample project descriptions at https://asda.stat.ubc.ca/sos/.
Your project description should consist of a concise description of your research problem in non-specialist language, with a clear indication of specific statistical issues on which advice is desired. A description of at most one page is preferred. Please only attach supplementary material if it is absolutely essential. For example, sending a grant proposal, together with a cover note saying you want advice on its statistical aspects, without any attempt to describe the research problem in terms that can be understood by a Statistics graduate student or to clarify what specific statistical issues are of concern, is not an appropriate submission.
Please note that a graduate student seeking statistical advice needs the permission of their supervisor. An e-mail from the supervisor at the time of project submission suffices, with the name of the student and the project clearly indicated.
STAT 551 details
Students in the consulting practicum, STAT 551, provide free consultation involving 2-4 hours with the client (meetings in person or via video conferencing) and also provide a written report containing detailed advice and recommendations. STAT 551 is offered in Term 1 each academic year. Students in this course have already completed STAT 550 (Techniques of Statistical Consulting), and will be undertaking this academic activity under the overall supervision of a department faculty member.
Projects from all UBC and non-UBC units and all levels of researchers, particularly graduate students, are welcome. Research projects requiring primarily advice on appropriate designs and methods of statistical analysis are ideally suited for STAT 551. To allow each STAT 551 student to be exposed to several projects, the total time spent on each project has to be limited. Thus, smaller projects are particularly suitable.
As soon as your project is approved, your description will be added to the list from which students will select projects. Thus it is to your advantage to submit a clear description as soon as possible. Students will begin selecting projects at the start of the fall term. The clearer your description, the more likely students are to select your project sooner rather than later and the more productive the initial consultation session is likely to be. Once your project has been selected, the student will contact you to arrange an appointment for an initial consultation session. If, at any time prior to being contacted, you no longer require advice on your project, please let ASDa know so the students do not spend time preparing for "inactive" projects.
SOS details
SOS runs year-round and involves a one-hour meeting (video conference or in person) with a senior consultant and a Statistics student, with the client receiving a one-page report, with relatively short turn-around time. Clients must be UBC-V graduate students.
SOS is funded by the UBC Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Research and Innovation.
STAT 450/550 details
As part of our ongoing efforts to bring current research into the classroom and promote interdisciplinary collaborations, the students enrolled in STAT 450 and STAT 550 will provide free statistical analyses in Term 2 of each academic year. The students will be carrying out this academic activity under the co-supervision of faculty instructors. All students STAT 450 will carry out the TCPS 2 CORE ethics training and the data will be treated with confidentiality within the courses and only re-used in these courses on other years, with your permission.
Research projects from all UBC and non-UBC units and all levels of researchers (but particularly UBC undergraduate and graduate students) are welcome. We prioritize well-focused projects with one or two specific questions to be addressed using already collected data.
Throughout the academic term, STAT 450 students will identify appropriate approaches to the analysis, carry these out, provide a report interpreting their results, and prepare a poster to summarize their work. To give the students the opportunity to practice and enhance their communication skills, we require a representative of your project to meet with the STAT 450 class at least 3 times (video conference call and if local in person at least once) to describe your research project in more detail, to answer questions the students may have in the course of their work, and/or to provide feedback on preliminary results. We expect that this will, to your advantage, result in a better final product.
If your project is selected for STAT 550, you will be required to attend the class on two occasions (zoom possible if necessary) where the first time will be to discuss your research questions and your data and the second time after the students have begun the analysis to answer any questions. The time from the first class meeting to the final analysis report will be about 6 weeks.
Please note that these projects also have educational goals. Although we will aim to accomplish your objectives, the work accomplished is work that fits into the semester and may not be at the level of peer-reviewed publications or a production ready data pipeline. Students work toward the course's defined deadlines, so asking students to deliver reports/meetings outside these course timelines is not within the scope of STAT 450/550.
Once your project is approved for STAT 450/550, you will need to provide the data set as an .xls, .txt, or .csv, with all the variables, including units and coding where relevant, clearly identified. The data will be treated with confidentiality within the course. If you are a student, your supervisor needs to provide written approval of your participation and data sharing with STAT 450/550.
Need help deciding?
One difference among these opportunities is the time commitment from the client and from the Statistics expert. SOS involves the least time—a one-hour meeting with a follow-up one-page report—and has fast turn-around time. STAT 551 students, may spend 2-4 hours with the client, and then aim for a report within two weeks of the last contact. A team of STAT 450 students work together on one project, spending an entire semester and interacting regularly with the client, either in person or via distance methods like zoom. Another difference among the opportunities is that the client receives advice and a report via STAT 551 and SOS, but does not receive statistical analysis. STAT 450/550 students carry out data analysis – so, of course, they will need the data. Note that 450 students will work on the analyses and report throughout the entire term, while 550 students will during a 6 week period. If you are still unsure which is most suitable simply mention this when you submit your project description.
Need further help?
Where further work is desired, ASDa, the Statistics Department’s Applied Statistics and Data Science Group, has fee-for-service options. For more information, please check: https://www.stat.ubc.ca/how-can-you-get-help-your-data; or http://asda.stat.ubc.ca.
Spread the word
If you know others who might be interested in these consultation services, please pass on this information.