Statistical Consultations

How to Book

1. Browse consultants: visit the team page to see each consultant's expertise and the statistical methods they work with.
2. Schedule a session: book directly below, or reach us at statlab@yale.edu with questions.
3. Come prepared: bring a brief description of your project, any data or code you're working with, and your specific question if you have one.

Frequently Asked Questions

What services does Yale StatLab Offer?

Yale StatLab supports researchers across most of the research cycle. Our core offering is one-on-one consultation, where a consultant works with you on the statistical and data-analytic parts of your project — including study design and power analysis, model selection and evaluation, data visualization, interpreting results, and communicating your findings. We also consult on text analysis and other computational methods.

Alongside consultations, we offer workshops (both introductory and topic-specific), code review, research guides. If you want to go deeper on a topic or method, we're also happy to put together a reading list or help you find relevant materials. We can also help with the statistical components of grant proposals — working alongside you to make sure your design and analysis plan are sound.

In coordination with partners across the university, we offer supplementary services including Open and Reproducible Research reading groups, reproducibility checks, and more.

Some related needs are served by dedicated teams elsewhere at Yale, and we encourage users to explore these resources:

• Finding datasets — a subject specialist librarian can help you track down data for your field.
• GIS and geospatial data — see the library's GIS research guide.
• Data management planning — see Research Data Management.
• Text analysis and digital humanities methods — the Digital Humanities Laboratory.

Who can use Yale StatLab?

Our services are available free of charge for all Yale University affiliates including undergraduate and graduate students, professional-school students, postdocs, staff, and faculty.

We support projects across all disciplines — from the social sciences and public health to the biological and physical sciences, the humanities, and the professional schools.

Does a StatLab consultation have a cost?

No. All of our services are completely free of charge.

Is there a limit to the number of consultations I can request per semester?

During your intake session, your consultant will work with you to determine the appropriate number of times to meet on a particular project. While there is no official limit to the number of consultations a client can schedule per semester, our offerings are contintingent on other factors including the number of consultation requests received, and the scope of the work. In cases where it is determined that a research project would benefit from long-term support, the consultant may work with the StatLab manager to determine appropriate resources outside of the StatLab.

How long is a consultation on average? What if I need more time?

A typical StatLab consultation lasts about 30 minutes and no more than 45 minutes. Consultations are kept deliberately short to allow consultants to prepare quality materials in advance and to focus on particular problems, or sets of problems. In order to use that time effectively, we encourage users to provide as much information as possible during the intake process including identifying the key research question(s), hypotheses, and any specific questions you would like to work through in a given session.

Do I need to have data in order to book a StatLab Consultation?

No. Our team is happy to consult at any stage of the research process. In fact, some of the most productive consultations happen early, before any data is collected — we can work with you to develop your design, run power analyses, and think through estimation strategies. Meeting at this stage lets us catch potential pitfalls while there's still time to address them, rather than working around them after the data is in.

Do StatLab consultants offer support for homework?

As a general rule, we encourage students to seek help from their instructors or teaching fellows first, which keeps learning within the context of the course. Our team doesn't provide direct support on homework assignments.

We are, however, happy to offer supplemental support to classroom instruction — reviewing key concepts, working through practice problems, and advising on course-embedded research projects like theses. So while we won't complete homework with you, we can be another resource for learning and growing in statistics and data science. Instructors who wish to use StatLab resources in support of course work should contact us at statlab@yale.edu.

As always, if you're not sure whether your question fits within the scope of our work, please feel free to send us an email.

Can the StatLab help me with my code?

Yes, with some caveats. Our team supports modern statistics and data science work in Python, R, and Stata, and whenever possible we aim to have consultants on hand for less common languages including SPSS, SAS, and Julia. Because our consultants are graduate students, coverage for any given language depends on who's available — so it's worth checking the consultant schedule if you need something specific.

One thing to keep in mind: we are methodological experts first, not software engineers. Our strength is helping you choose and correctly apply the right approach, and our code support serves that goal.

Common forms of support include code review, debugging, translating between languages, and developing pseudocode for new methods. StatLab consultants are advised to not perform analysis for the researcher, but they are encouraged to use pseudocode and worked examples to teach you new methods — so you leave able to write it yourself.

Can StatLab consultants formally collaborate on research projects?

Not typically. Because StatLab is a free service, we aim to serve as many clients as possible, which means we generally can't commit to long-term collaborations on a single project. We also recognize that our consultants are graduate students first — we keep defined hours so they can balance consulting against their own coursework and research.

We're glad to work with a researcher or team over multiple sessions to refine a project and offer input on methods, interpretation, and analysis. What we don't do is embed as an ongoing project member. Credit or acknowledgement of StatLab support is appreciated but never required.

In rare cases, a consultant may take on a longer-term collaboration when it meaningfully advances their own career or research goals. When that happens, the consultant signs a memorandum of understanding (MOU) confirming that the work takes place outside their StatLab hours and that StatLab bears no responsibility for the project.