Information about our statistical consulting service

• The statistical consulting service is at present only open to members of the Department of Psychology. Further statistical consulting services at UZH and ETH.
• Doctoral students can use the consulting service if they are employed at the Department of Psychology and/or are enrolled in the general doctorate/a doctoral program of the Department of Psychology.
• Students are not entitled to use the consulting service themselves. However, their (co-)supervisor is welcome to use the consulting service if there are questions relating to a master’s thesis.
  The only exception is our walk-in R consultation hour (see below), which is also open directly to students with questions on the usage of R.
• To schedule an appointment, please use the registration form only. For consultation in the context of a dissertation or habilitation, the supervising professor’s approval is required. The only exception is our walk-in R consultation hour(see below).

• After you have submitted the request form, a consultant will contact you via e-mail in order to schedule an appointment for an initial consultation. There may be a waiting period of several days or more during times when we receive many requests.
• The consultants have experience in a wide range of statistical topics. However, it is not possible for them to know every single detail of every statistical method. In addition, the time for the initial consultation is limited to 30 minutes for reasons of capacity.
  It is therefore important that you are well-prepared for the initial consultation so that you can describe your question with regard to content and methodology in a concise but clear manner.
  In particular, you should be able not only to name the statistical methods that you use but also to describe them, because these methods often have different names in different fields of application. You are welcome to bring an article or a chapter of a book or the like, which explains the method in detail and possibly by means of mathematical formulas. However, the consultants cannot be expected to read these materials in detail. They serve only as an illustration of your explanations, for which you need to be well-prepared.
• The consultants will try to answer your question immediately, but often this is not possible. If further information is required from you or from the consultant, another consultation (via e-mail or in person) will be scheduled for a later time.
• Our statistical consultation service includes verbal answers to methodological questions and, if required, help in getting started with statistical software (R, SPSS and Matlab).
  Our consultants do not perform data analyses on your behalf.
• Please be aware that the consultants will not be able to provide solutions to every single problem and that, in particular, you do not have the right to claim that your problem will be solved by a particular deadline. This is due to waiting times as well as the fact that it is not possible to estimate in advance how much time the statistical consulting will take. We therefore recommend that you make an appointment for consultation as early as possible.
• If, as a result of the content or the extent of the advice provided, a consultant has substantially contributed to the conception or the completion of a publication or a grant proposal, it is customary to list him/her as co-author. In this case, the consultant must be given the opportunity to cross-read the draft before it is submitted.

Unfortunately, the walk-in R consultation cannot be offered at the moment. Changes will be announced here.