NIU’s Division of Statistics of the Mathematical Sciences Department is offering a free consulting service for NIU faculty members and graduate students.

Division of Statistics Director Ibrahim A. Ahmad said, “Many faculty members do research which requires statistical analysis. The consulting service offers statistical analysis help to researchers.”

Ahmad, professor Sudhir Gupta and professor Bala Hosmane will provide the service in the consulting statistics lab in DuSable Hall, room 333. The division works in cooperation with the Computing Center and User Services, located in Swen Parson Hall, is involved with the computational aspects of the research.

Typical faculty research is in the departments of pyschology, the social sciences, biology, chemistry and education. Graduate students working on master’s and doctorate dissertations also can use the lab.

Ahmad said, “Quite a few graduate students and faculty members come to us for help. At the moment, the social sciences have benefited the most. A number of people from the college of education and others are using the service.”

Besides analyzing statistics, the service helps researchers design their surveys. Ahmad said, “We help them decide who should be asked, what questions to ask and how the survey should be done. There are many questions in the design (of the research) itself.”

Ahmad said, “The service allows them to design the survey, collect the data, analyze it, summarize it and draw conclusions.”