Consulting Services
The Statistical Consulting Service (Department of Statistical Sciences) offers a professional, statistical consultation service to postgraduate students and researchers at the University of Cape Town and other academic institutions, and to corporate and NGO clients.
The service spans the following types of activities, and is subject to stipulated terms and conditions.
- Assistance regarding research design (experiments or surveys), sampling design, questionnaire design and data collection methodology.
- Guidance for data capturing and verification.
- Advice on appropriate software for data analysis.
- Data cleaning, validation and manipulation.
- Analysis of data.
- Assistance with data interpretation.
- Referral to statistical specialists when required.
- Short training courses tailored for specific needs (on request).
Clientele
UCT-based clients
- Honours students - the SCS does NOT currently provide assistance to Honours students.
- Coursework masters and doctoral students - assistance ONLY with regard to the dissertation or thesis NOT coursework assignments.
- Research masters and doctoral students, and postdoctoral researchers.
- Research/Academic Staff.
- Visiting researchers/international exchange students - UCT rates apply if funding comes from a UCT source; External academic rates apply if funding is from an external source.
Clients External to UCT
- External academic clients.
- Corporate, NGO clients and Individuals in a private capacity.
Please note:
- In line with the principle of social distancing and following UCT’s guidelines, all consultations are currently scheduled via MS Teams, Skype, Zoom, or equivalent.
- The service is provided subject to the availability of consultants. The Statistical Consulting Service reserves the right to terminate or refuse service.
- The SCS operates on a partial cost-recovery basis and hence all billable work are charged for at an hourly rate. UCT staff and students have the option to pay via grant or research funds via internal fund transfer. Alternatively, invoices are to be settled privately.
- Consultations are conducted by appointment ONLY.
- It is the responsibility of the client to provide ample time for statistical consulting, and to inform the consultant of any deadlines; as a guideline, requests must be submitted at least 6 to 8 weeks prior to the deadline.
- It is strongly recommended that clients contact the consultancy at the onset of their project.
- New projects are not accpeted during the months of mid-November until January. Clients submitting projects during this time should take note that work on these projects will only commence in February.
- Time frames for feedback will be negotiated throughout. For large or unusual datasets, extra time may be needed to research a solution, manipulate the data and compute the results. Results can be delayed by unanticipated problems with the data, availability of computer resources, and seasonally heavy workloads.
- Students are required to obtain approval from their supervisors before requesting consultancy services, and it is strongly recommended that supervisor(s) attend at least the first consultation.
Application process
- To register a new project with the SCS for consideration, clients must complete and submit an application form and signed copy of the Terms and Conditions of Service. These documents are available from the Forms page. The information on this application form is collected for the primary purpose of assessing your application for statistical consulting. Other purposes of collection include attending to administrative matters, corresponding with you, and internal statistical analyses.
Please note: incomplete applications will delay project review.
- Applications can be submitted electronically to sta-consulting@uct.ac.za
- Applications will be reviewed within two weeks of submission.
- Initial meetings are scheduled depending on the reviewing process.
Initial Contact information:
Email: sta-consulting@uct.ac.za