Quantitative / Statistics
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH & STATISTICS
The Odum Institute offers consulting services covering all stages of research involving quantitative data, which is numerical data collected for the purpose of revealing broader trends in a population or group, and typically analyzed using statistics.
Areas covered include research design, data management, statistical analysis, network data analysis, text analysis and more. Our consultants can also assist with formatting reports and creating publication-ready tables and graphs.
Online Statistical Support
Advanced graduate students are available to answer your statistical analysis and programing questions Monday through Friday during the hours noted in the schedule at the bottom of the page.
You can connect with consultants using Slack or Microsoft Teams. Information on how to connect to our channels is below.
Get connected:
Slack:
- Visit the #stats-help-desk channel during desk hours and post your question. If you need help with a specific topic (i.e. machine learning, NLP, time series) or are using a specific software (i.e. R, SAS, SPSS) please check the consultants’ specialties in the schedule below and post during their hours.
- Consultants will discuss your needs with you and share their Zoom IDs as needed.
- Finally, use these articles to leave the workspace, leave the channel or mute notifications once your session is complete.
Microsoft Teams:
**Mac users may have trouble with the desktop client. If that is the case, we encourage you to try the browser app instead.
**Teams should be used when sharing sensitive data. Once you explain your needs to the consultant, they can help you share your data via private message or folder.
- Visit the Stats Desk Team.
- Post your question during desk hours.
- If you need help with a specific topic (i.e. machine learning, NLP, time series) or are using a specific software (i.e. R, SAS, SPSS) please check the consultants’ specialties in the schedule below and post during their hours.
- Consultants will discuss your needs with you and share their Zoom IDs as needed.
- Finally, use these articles to leave the Team or change your notifications settings.
Use the table below to find the help desk consultant best-suited to answering your research questions:
| Spring 2023 Hours - January 9 - May 6 (Closed University Holidays/Breaks) | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mornings (See times for specific consultant) | Steven (9am-12pm) Political Science R, Regression (OLS and GLM), Data Visualization in R, data sets used by political scientists studying international relations, especially those relating to conflict and terrorism | Philip (9am-1pm) Political Science R, Stata, Excel, MPLUS, Qualtrics, Regression, SEM, Factor Analysis, Network Analysis, Data Visualization | Micah (9am-1pm) Sociology Stata, R, Mplus, Regression (OLS and GLM), Structural Equation Modeling, Causal Inference | Philip (9am-1pm) Political Science R, Stata, Excel, MPLUS, Qualtrics, Regression, SEM, Factor Analysis, Network Analysis, Data Visualization | Ruy (9am-12pm) Sociology Stata, SAS, R, Linear Regression (panel data, multilevel models, instrumental variable), Categorical Dependent Variable Models (GLM), Survival Analysis, Factor Analysis, Quasi-Experimental Designs, Admin databases, Socioeconomic panels, Census data, Survey data, Text files & Messy data, Social & Behavioral sciences, Intervention Research & Program Evaluation |
| Afternoons (See times for specific consultant) | Hashem (12pm-5pm) Economics R, Python, Regression (OLS, GLM, and IV), Data Visualization in R, Regression Discontinuity Design, MLE, Generalized Method of Moments, Focus on Structural Models, Discrete Models, Simulations, Behavioral Experiments | Philip (1pm-5pm) Political Science R, Stata, Excel, MPLUS, Qualtrics, Regression, SEM, Factor Analysis, Network Analysis, Data Visualization | Micah (1pm-5pm) Sociology Stata, R, Mplus, Regression (OLS and GLM), Structural Equation Modeling, Causal Inference | 1pm-5pm: You may contact Chris Wiesen to check his availability or to make an appointment. Please see his areas of experience before contacting him. | 12pm-3pm: You may contact Chris Wiesen to check his availability or to make an appointment. Please see his areas of experience before contacting him. |
| Evenings (See times for specific consultant) | Ruy (5pm-7pm) Sociology Stata, SAS, R, Linear Regression (panel data, multilevel models, instrumental variable), Categorical Dependent Variable Models (GLM), Survival Analysis, Factor Analysis, Quasi-Experimental Designs, Admin databases, Socioeconomic panels, Census data, Survey data, Text files & Messy data, Social & Behavioral sciences, Intervention Research & Program Evaluation | Ruy (5pm-7pm) Sociology Stata, SAS, R, Linear Regression (panel data, multilevel models, instrumental variable), Categorical Dependent Variable Models (GLM), Survival Analysis, Factor Analysis, Quasi-Experimental Designs, Admin databases, Socioeconomic panels, Census data, Survey data, Text files & Messy data, Social & Behavioral sciences, Intervention Research & Program Evaluation | Steven (5pm-7pm) Political Science R, Regression (OLS and GLM), Data Visualization in R, data sets used by political scientists studying international relations, especially those relating to conflict and terrorism | Steven (5pm-7pm) Political Science R, Regression (OLS and GLM), Data Visualization in R, data sets used by political scientists studying international relations, especially those relating to conflict and terrorism | 3pm-5pm: You may contact Chris Wiesen to check his availability or to make an appointment. Please see his areas of experience before contacting him. |
If you have trouble accessing any of the above channels, please contact Rocky Riviella at riviella@email.unc.edu.
Full-time Consulting Staff
If, after meeting with our online consultants, you require support more in-depth consulting, full-time quantitative research consulting staff members — listed below — are available to offer consultations for theses, dissertations, grant proposals, publications and other research requirements.
Short consultations are available free-of-charge to UNC students, faculty and staff, while more in-depth assistance and support is provided on a cost-reimbursement basis.
To request a consultation with any of our consultants, please call or email them using the information listed below.
- Basic Univariate & Bivariate Statistics
- Categorical/Limited Dependent Variable Regression Models
- Experimental design and analysis of variance
- Generalized Linear Model
- Hierarchical Linear Modeling or Mixed Models
- Item Response Theory
- Survival Analysis
- Weighting Survey Data
- Power and Sample Size
- Survey Data (Complex Sampling Design) Analysis
- Data visualization & presentation
- Optimization Methods (EM, Newton-Raphson)
Software:
- SAS
- Stata
- SPSS
***Members of our survey research team can assist with survey design and distribution for quantitative data collection.
Methods:
- Multiple linear regression models
- Categorical regression models
- Hierarchal regression models, multilevel models, mixed models
- Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
- Survival analysis
- Analysis of survey data
- Missing data
Software:
- Stata
- SPSS
- R
Data Collection
Odum can help with quantitative data collection, including survey design and implementation, as well as assistance with database setup and uses.
For more information on our survey design and implementation support, please visit our survey page. If you need to explore options for storing and processing data in large quantities, check out our research data information systems page.