Design Consulting: The Initial Meeting

All design consultations begin with a formal Initial Meeting. This meeting includes the new client, the client's major professor (for clients who are students) and the statistical consultant (a faculty member of the SCC).

The purpose of this meeting is to explain the research methods and goals to the consultant. The consultant must learn enough about your project to effectively help with the design of the research or analysis of the data.

Preparing

You can prepare for the initial meeting by bringing along any information that will help the consultant understand your research. Please be prepared to discuss the following items:

• research objectives
• hypotheses
• design issues
• data collection methods
• statistical software issues
• other concerns that you have

We will get an overview of the project and decide upon a general approach for the analysis. Your consultant will arrange for additional meetings as necessary, and will also be available to answer questions by telephone and email; a follow-up meeting with your advisor and the Statistics faculty advisor may be scheduled.

Important Information

For students using the service, we advice that the major professor or research sponsor attend the initial meeting. We have found that initial meetings are most productive when the student, advisor and consultant are present. If your major professor or research sponsor is unable to attend a scheduled meeting, please inform your consultant so that the meeting can be rescheduled.