Academic Research Consultant
My name is Sandra Pereira and I welcome you to the Faculty of Business and Law Academic Research Consultant's Website.
My role is to help research students (PhD, Masters by research and Honours) and staff with improving their quantitative and statistical analyses. I often work with overseas students who are refining their research proposals but can look at any academic request from any research student or academic, time permitting.
I work closely with Supervisors and attempt to reduce their workload by allowing them to focus more on content than statistical and quantitative issues. The success of this strategy depends on the student’s knowledge of statistical and quantitative techniques and their commitment to improving their knowledge.
How can the Research Consultant assist researchers?
I assist them to validate their approaches to identify suitable statistical and quantitative techniques:
- Identify the appropriate structure of the variables (dependent, independent, etc.)
- Investigate Parametric and Non-parametric analyses to the dataset and variables
- Report the significant findings in a more technical and statistical style
- Writing in a more easily read style
- Understanding published works
- Advise to research proposals and grants
- Seeking and receiving feedback
As with other research consultants, I do not do the statistical analysis for you (but will provide detailed suggestions and recommendations). My role is to build your confidence on the application of the relevant technique to your dataset or study. Mostly, I am very happy to work outside of my specialist research area as long as you are very happy to do the necessary work.
Activities and workshops
I help research students and staff through the following activities and workshops:
- Individual and small group consultations
- Workshops open to all research students enrolled in the faculty
- Workshops arranged with specific Schools
- Orientation sessions for particular research courses
- Referral to reliable commercial statistical consultants in other universities
I also work with individual staff or groups of staff but research students take priority.
How to make an appointment
To arrange an appointment you please contact Dr Sandra Pereira by email or telephone, or by dropping in at my office (see below). It helps greatly if you send a draft of your research proposal and SPSS output files with some results that you have done in advance of an appointment so that the meeting is more productive.
How to arrange a small group workshop
Get a relevant academic staff member to contact me by email or telephone. It is important that you are clear about what you want the workshop to achieve. For some schools the number of research students will necessitate that a workshop approach be adopted rather than individual consultations.
I am based at the Joondalup campus in the room JO 2.243. I work on Mondays. My telephone and fax numbers are: (+ 61 8) 6304 5395, and (+61 8) 6304 5271, respectively. Note that I am also available for email consultations on Tuesdays. My email address is s.pereira@ecu.edu.au.
My background
Please see my BLOG at www.research.ecu.edu.au/grs/blogs/blog.php?id=spereir0.