Would your research benefit from an expert statistical analysis?

For more than 60 years, researchers at Virginia Tech have benefited from collaboration and consultation with the faculty and graduate students of the Department of Statistics.

Our statistical collaborators are trained to help design experiments, analyze and plot data, run statistical software, interpret results, and communicate statistical concepts to non-statisticians. Our assistance is free for university faculty, staff, and students on academic research projects. Areas of expertise include:

• Grant Proposals
• Experimental Design
• Mulitvariate Methods
• Bayesian Statistics
• Biostatistics
• Time Series
• Quality Control
• Response Surface Models
• Publication Preparation
• R, JMP, SAS, Minitab, etc.

Our collaborators are available to provide 10 hours per semester of free collaboration and consultation for all Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students on academic research projects. Exceptions to the 10-hour policy may be made for projects in which joint publications are being pursued or for those with potential for future collaborative research.

Our collaborators are faculty and students in the Department of Statistics. Current collaborators have profiles on our website so you can put a face to the name before your first meeting. In addition, the entire statistics faculty may be available for collaboration on a case-by-case basis.

Grant Proposal Preparation

Statistical thinking can greatly contribute to the success of research proposals in most areas. At many granting agencies, the quality of statistical planning can tip the balance in favor of funding. We can help you with proposal preparation by advising you on the statistical aspects of your proposed research. This includes experimental design, sample-survey planning, and subsequent analyses. If a role for statistics or statistical analysis is proposed, we will gladly write the statistical methods section of your grant and join in your proposal.

Requesting Statistical Collaboration

Please describe your overall research goals and specific questions. Once submitted you should receive a submission confirmation email. Based on the information you provide, you will be assigned a team of collaborators to your project. After you have been assigned a team, you should contact the statistical lead collaborator to schedule the first meeting. Before attending the first meeting, be sure to review our policies, learn a little about your collaboration team, and review our FAQ's and Contact Us if you have any questions. 

To ensure high-quality support for all clients, we will pause new project assignments from November 20, 2026, to January 18, 2027, while our students enjoy a well-deserved winter break and prepare for the upcoming semester.

Please ensure you are logged in to your Virginia Tech account before accessing the form. If you are not already authenticated with a VT service (e.g., MS Teams, Canvas, or HokieSPA), sign in first to avoid access errors. 

Logging in to your VT account: In a browser tab, logon to https://my.office365.vt.edu with your VT credentials. After you log in, paste the following URL in your same browser window/tab: https://saig.stat.vt.edu/saig-services/request-saig-consultation.html . The form should appear in the middle of the page and allow you to fill it out. If you are not on campus, you may need to connect to your VPN first.    

REQUEST A COLLABORATION

A statistical consultant will be available when classes are in session to answer your quick questions or to help with research projects requiring less than 30 minutes of assistance. When you sign up a link will be sent to your @vt.edu account. Request a Virtual Walk-in Appointment. 

For more in-depth questions or longer projects, complete the Collaboration Request Form and a team of statistical collaborators will be assigned to work with you.

Note: Our collaborators do not assist with class projects or homework. Learn more.

The Statistical Applications & Innovation Group (SAIG) offers free short courses to faculty, staff, and graduate students through the VT Professional Development Network. SAIG has supported faculty and student researchers at Virginia Tech for over 75 years!  We provide free courses to members of participating VT Colleges to make you a more effective researcher.  Do you need to analyze your data and aren't sure where to start?  Switching to R from another software package?  Using JMP ® for the first time?  Need a refresher on a particular topic?  Need to learn a new technique?  Faculty - These courses count toward computer refresh credits!

Have questions or need help with a SAIG course? We are here for you! Click the Short Course Questions link to send your inquires.

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Sound Design.  Whether you are working on social  science or rocket science, we can create the study or experimental design to achieve your research objectives. We can maximize information given your resources with sound design.

Appropriate Analytics.  How do I demonstrate statistical significance? What do I do with my non-normal data?  Logistic regression or tree model? Text mining? Bayesian or frequentist? We can sort these issues out by collaborating on appropriate analytics.

Intelligent Interpretation. So, you have statistical results and you are ready to publish or report to your sponsor. You ask: What is the proper way to communicate my conclusions? What visuals support my data analysis? We’ve got your back with intelligent interpretation.

Growth. Onward and upward with SAIG. Sound statistical design, appropriate analytics, and intelligent interpretation are key elements in producing your best proposals and publications. Partner with SAIG and the sky is the limit on your research growth.

The topic of co-authorship can be a touchy subject. SAIG provides this document to express views on co-authorship. 

Co-authorship is not required for SAIG collaboration projects; however, if collaborators perform the work of a co-author, they should receive the credit of co-authorship. 

It is important to have a discussion about what work is to be completed and if it qualifies for a co-authorship.

SAIG bases co-authorship guidelines on those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which states that authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3. 1  

Another authorship guideline is the Galindo-Leal guide for explicit authorship 2. All individuals who work on a paper are assigned points based on their contribution (see Figure 1). If an individual reaches 25 points, he/she deserves to be a co- author. Points are per individual and can total over 100 for the entire paper.

1. http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf
   http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
2. http://www.academia.edu/1323050/Explicit_authorship