Statistical Consulting Centre

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Data on a laptop screen

The Statistical Consulting Centre provides statistical advice and support to businesses, government, research institutions and other organisations.


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The Statistical Consulting Centre provides statistical support across all stages of data-based research. Consultants work with you to design and implement quantitative studies. Your data is analysed using the most relevant statistical methods and software. Consultants are skilled at communicating statistical findings to different audiences.

Examples of statistical projects that the Centre has been involved in include:

  • Meta-analysis – relating to a class-action lawsuit over the use of transvaginal mesh implants. Shine Lawyers acted on behalf of 1350 women against implant manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and its affiliate Ethicon. The law firm engaged a Centre consultant as an expert witness to appear in court. The judge ruled in favour of the women and against the companies who sold the implants.
  • Forecasting – to determine the demand for legal services based on expected population growth. The Centre worked with Victoria Legal Aid. It is a government organisation that helps people with legal problems, particularly those with the greatest need.
  • Developing sampling schemes – to estimate the size and value of public collections. By law, agencies holding valuable public collections have to regularly value or estimate the size of their collections. Often the collections are too large to examine each item individually. Agencies using this service include Arts Centre Melbourne, the Australian Museum and ACMI.
  • Designing and analysing trials – for studying nutrition in beef cattle and sheep. The Centre has worked with Ridley Corporation, a commercial provider of animal nutrition products, for over 10 years.

The Centre also offers short courses, workshops, seminars and customised statistical training. Topics include:

  • introduction to statistical analysis and modelling
  • experimental design and analysis
  • introduction to R and reproducible research
  • survey design and analysis
  • statistical literacy
  • statistics for basic physician training
  • analysis of categorical data.

Case study

Resources

The Centre’s consultants have expertise in:

  • questionnaire design
  • data collection methods
  • study design, for experiments and surveys
  • choice of sample size
  • data management and verification
  • data mining
  • data modelling and data analytics strategies
  • data science
  • interpretation of analyses and statistical reasoning
  • data exploration and visualisation
  • high-quality communication of analytics, including graphical presentations
  • statistical software, including GenStat, Minitab, SPSS, Stata and R
  • quantitative research and reasoning.

Consultants can also:

  • act as expert witnesses in legal proceedings
  • provide training that is tailored to specific needs
  • help you communicate statistical findings to your audiences.

All consultants are accredited with the Statistical Society of Australia.

User information

The Statistical Consulting Centre works with businesses, government, research institutions and other organisations. Work is performed on a fee-for-service basis.

Other platforms

The Statistical Consulting Centre works with other University platforms:

Contact us

Deborah Maillardet

Phone: +61 3 8344 6995

Submit an enquiry

For University staff and graduate researchers

If you are a staff member or a graduate researcher at the University of Melbourne, you can access dedicated statistics support through the Melbourne Statistical Consulting Platform. Graduate researchers receive up to ten hours of consultation free of charge. Staff services are provided on a fee-for-service basis. Short courses for University researchers are also available.

You can find more information on the Melbourne Statistical Consulting Platform on the Research Gateway. The Research Gateway is available to all University of Melbourne academic and honorary staff, graduate researchers and professional staff. Please note, to access the Research Gateway, you will need to login with your University of Melbourne username and password.

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