For professors and graduate students looking for help with data analysis in their research, the Department of Statistics’ Center for Statistical Consultation and Collaborative Research affords a resource for academic research and analysis with help from the experts.
Professor Dennis Eggett has been managing the Center for the past 13 years. He employs three or four statistics graduate students to help professors from all over campus. The team typically collaborates on about 12 peer-reviewed publications a year.
“It’s almost like an internal internship for [graduate students],” Eggett said. “It gives them an idea and a feel for what’s it like to work with clients.”
Though the Center has existed for nearly as long as the Statistics Department itself, it has only had a full-time manager for roughly 13 years. After passing it among faculty members on a rotating basis for several years, the department did an assessment and found that a permanent manager position was needed.
As an example of the services provided by the Center, Eggett was recently approached to do statistical analysis for Dr. Carl Hanson, of the Department of Health Science. Hanson provided the database, while Eggett did the analysis.
Eggett and Hanson worked together to analyze socio-demographic factors that may affect body mass index (BMI) among adolescents. They found that poverty-stricken areas and low physical activity increased BMI, while larger families and healthy diets lowered it. Age, gender and ethnicity also proved to influence BMI.
“It’s more expensive to eat healthy and so the poverty-stricken tend to eat more unhealthy because it’s cheaper and easier,” Eggett said. “Also, [they are] less likely to be involved in sports because they don’t have the money for [these] physical activities. They tend to be more sedentary, and so they have a higher BMI.”
In poverty-stricken neighborhoods, the public recreation areas are usually found to be less safe or poorly maintained. Diets consist more of foods heavy in starch and high in sugars. The research was meant to influence what policy makers, health professionals and families can do to lower childhood obesity.
The Center for Statistical Consultation and Collaborative Research works with every department on campus and is available for professors, faculty members and graduate students. Contact Eggett for more information.