What would you think about this? Probably the same you would think of somebody seriously ill, shouting, "I do not need doctor"s help!" He must be insane! There is really a great chance for me to go insane if I actually tried to manage all the statistics on my own. Trial and error is not the approach here as I will end up paying way much in tuition and fees and just losing time going into all wrong directions. As the saying goes, "Whoever understands statistics is a genius", so I should let the right person do the right job. So
what is data analysis help I should seek and how?
Is there a need of statistical consultation?
Doctoral candidates, Master's or even undergraduates doing research that involves data analysis are bound to come across research or academic writing at some point in time. Most often than not, they have no prior experience of writing research papers. Even if they do have previous knowledge of conducting research studies, whether they like it or not, they are no statisticians! Dissertation writing is a team work and the statistician is a core pillar of the team; he/she is as important as the main advisor or supervisor. Those who understand this point early enough succeed with little or no difficulties. Those who do not realize it in the beginning will ultimately do so by failures.
With regard to this, the Center for Statistics in Medicine and Cancer Research found that research studies that did not get statistical expert help were more likely to be rejected (71%) and they had much lower chance of getting published. It further concluded that statistical assistance is highly recommended for better outcomes but the involvement of the statistician usually comes late in the process. The delay in getting statistical assistance inevitably has its negative consequences.
When planning to start a research study or a dissertation, you need to answer some statistics questions right at the outset, such as, what will be the study design? A wrong study design at the beginning can lead to catastrophic results at the end. Each small step in the journey has its significance which can affect your research as a whole and can result in wrong conclusions.
The backbone of any research, dissertation or thesis is the statistics involved in it because statistics is a vital part at every step, from the very beginning till the end. Any mistake made in the study design, sampling, data collection, analysis or another stage of writing will ruin your whole effort. Statistics and research go hand in hand. Research without sound statistical background is not productive because the scholar cannot draw correct inferences from the data.
When to look for help with my thesis statistics?
The need for statistical help is required at two critical phases of the research. Firstly, in the planning stage of the research, so that the study design and other statistical parameters such as sample size are selected properly. Bear in mind that it will be possible for the subsequent analysis of the data to be correct only if the study design and statistical foundations are accurate. It is important to formulate the primary and secondary outcomes of the study in collaboration with the statistician so that hypotheses testing can be done properly and appropriate tests can be applied. Calculation of the sample size and the sampling technique to be used also requires direct input from a statistics expert.
The second stage comprises the analysis of the results and their interpretations and write up. The data collected needs to undergo correct statistical analysis so that study outcomes are viable and trust worthy. It has been observed that studies with incomplete or wrong data analysis did not involve the assistance of statistician at the right time. It has been proven that the statistician doing the analysis is usually approached too late. He or she is not well versed with the hypothesis being tested and the study design made in the initial stages. As a result, the statistical records are not properly laid out and the data cannot be analyzed properly. Thus the study fails to test thoroughly the questions for which it was designed. Moreover, when the authors do not understand the statistical concepts fully, the write up of the dissertation results is often confusing and misleading.
Having basic understanding of statistics may enable you to apply basic tests to the data with the help of a statistical software but providing interpretation of the results and drawing correct inferences is more complex. In order to satisfy the needs of the researcher and the readers, statistics consulting services should be hired early in the process so that expert statistical help is incorporated in formulating the research question, setting the objectives, charting out the research methodology and calculating the sample size. Dissertation statistics help using SPSS or other statistical software, provided by the statistical consultancy service is enormous. It saves your time and you get the correct analysis of your data by the expert.
