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Research Design Statistical Support Service (RDS3)

The Research Design Statistical Support Service or RDS3 is a new resource for Gippsland researchers. Based at the Gippsland Medical School, the RDS3 offers a comprehensive support service to Gippsland researchers in quantitative research design, application, analysis and dissemination.

The RDS3 team members have extensive research experience particularly as applied within the broad health discipline. The team consists:

  • Dr. Matthew McGrail - Research Fellow & Statistician
  • A/Professor Elmer Villanueva - Associate Professor in Public Health
  • Ms. Katherine Gray - Research Assistant

The services of the RDS3 are open to

  • Academic staff of the Gippsland Campus of Monash University
  • Health professionals, clinicians, planners and decision makers of the Gippsland region
  • Health organisations (e.g. hospitals, community health agencies) based in Gippsland
  • Research students (limited availability)

Service Level Options

Initial Consultation -  there is no charge for the first consultation (up to one hour). You should bring with you all relevant materials in order to assess the level of support required (data analyses will not be undertaken during this meeting time). Suggested materials (where applicable) include: draft research proposal, research objectives and/or hypotheses, study design, relevant literature, data collection tools (e.g. questionnaire).

If assistance is required beyond the initial consultation, the following service packages are available and the appropriate level will be negotiated with the RDS3 team member.

Level 1     Up to 4 hours           $250
Level 2     4-8 hours                 $500
Level 3     More than 8 hours    to be negotiated

Collaboration - sometimes, a longer-term arrangement may be requested for more in-depth research design, support, analysis and dissemination. In this case, funding support of a statistician (5-10% of costs) should be written into the research grant submission and/or contract agreement. It is expected that collaborating RDS3 staff would be offered co-authorship on consequent publications and presentations. Co-authorship is not ordinarily expected unless a significant contribution was made by a RDS3 staff member or particular statistical expertise was required in the analysis of results.

Services Offered

Research Design

The RDS3 team can assist you in developing your research ideas into answerable questions and to provide options for study designs in order to best answer your research question. Tasks may include:

  • Advice on research design methods/options (e.g. clinical trials)
  • Advice on implementing randomisation and minimising bias
  • Assistance with power and sample size calculations
  • Assistance with proposals for research grants, particularly in reference to research design and feasibility; also ethics approval

Statistical Support

The RDS3 team can assist you in all aspects of statistical support, ranging through basic data collection, analysis and presentation to more advanced statistical modelling. Tasks may include:

  • Advice on data collection and data management (including data cleaning)
  • Planning and implementation of basic statistical analysis
  • Advice and/or assistance with interpretation of statistical results
  • Undertaking advanced statistical modelling and provide analysis reports
  • Advice and/or assistance with the dissemination of results (e.g. papers for publication, preparing posters, oral presentations)
  • Revision and co-authorship of scientific manuscripts

Quantitative research training

Keep an eye out for forthcoming education sessions (1-2 hours) run by the RDS3 including the following areas

  • Quantitative research design
  • Basic study designs
  • Randomised controlled trials
  • Longitudinal studies
  • Case-control studies
  • Cross-sectional studies and panel designs

Introduction to statistical software

  • Stata
  • SPSS
  • Prism

Basic data collection and statistical analysis

  • Testing of means and proportions

Intermediate statistical analysis

  • Regression modelling
  • Survival analysis
  • Hierarchical modelling

Contacting the RDS3 team
Consultations are available on: Mondays 1.00 - 5.00 p.m. and Wednesdays 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.

All consultations must be pre-booked by contacting Ms. Lauren Snell on

Phone:  03 5122 6393
Email:   rds3.queries@med.monash.edu.au

Note: Postgraduate research students may only seek limited assistance consisting of basic advice regarding research design, statistical analysis methods and interpretation of results. Under no circumstances will the RDS3 team analyse the data for research students.