Consultative and Collaborative Support Unit
The Consultative and Collaborative Support Unit of the BERD will provide collaborative support and consultative service in the disciplines of epidemiology, biostatistics, and informatics during the planning, implementation, conduct, analysis, and reporting of clinical, translational, and community-based research studies.
Services Provided
- Formulation of research questions that are well-defined, measurable, and answerable
- Consultation on the design and planning of research projects
- Development of valid and efficient research designs
- Identification of sufficient sample sizes
- Guidance on the selection of measurement methods and instruments
- Development of case report forms, databases, and online data capture tools
- Data processing and programming
- Creation of data and safety monitoring plans
- Troubleshooting research design and data analysis issues
- Data analysis and reporting
- Creation of publication-quality summary tables and figures
- Systematic review and meta-analysis
- Survey development and phone/internet-based survey administration: Sooner Survey
BERD personnel have methodological expertise that includes methods in biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical trials, survey sampling, genetic epidemiology, and qualitative research.
Templates and Reporting Guides
Please review the policies and procedures for guidance regarding funding arrangements, timelines, co-authorship, and tips for an effective initial consultation meeting. Briefly, please note the following:
Timelines
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Submitted requests are reviewed, and a BERD member is assigned within two working days of the submission.
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With rare exceptions, we require grant proposals to be submitted to the BERD for support at least three weeks before the grant submission deadline.
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We require a minimum of two weeks for data cleaning and data processing, plus a minimum of two weeks for descriptive and univariate analyses and a minimum of four weeks for multivariate analyses or analyses involving weighted, hierarchical sampling, or longitudinal data after the data have been cleaned and queries have been addressed.
Funding Arrangements
- For grant applications that include BERD personnel, salary support will be included when allowable under the funding mechanism.
- BERD personnel approval of the final grant document must be secured prior to submission.
Co-authorship and Acknowledgement
- BERD support must be acknowledged in the abstract and manuscript by stating, "Funding provided by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences [grant 1 U54GM104938]."
- BERD personnel are expected to be co-authors, and the decision on authorship should be based on scientific contribution, independent of funding consideration, as per the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors guidelines.