Data Initiatives Programs

If you are a researcher at EKU looking for support on a research project, you have found the right place! Depending on your needs and the state of your project you can consider different alternatives.

About Data Initiatives

Data Initiatives provides a valuable service to the EKU community, as data consultants are students specifically trained to support students, faculty, and staff on research and analysis projects. The team is interdisciplinary and follows best practices in data science. 

Services Offered

Consultations

• Who: Everyone on campus can request a 30-minutes consultation: undergraduate students, Honor’s students, McNair students, Senior Thesis students, Master Thesis students, Doctoral students, faculty members, staff, and administrators

• When: Consultations can be requested at any point during the Fall and Spring semesters. 

• Process: Researchers seeking help with their data (see form) will meet for 30-minutes with the consultants. During the meeting, the consultants will help brainstorm the best way to approach the data. The researcher is fully responsible for implementing all suggestions and completing all tasks to finish their project.

• Time: Each consultation will take 30 minutes. You can request as many consultations as necessary until you complete your research project. 

• Availability: Data Initiatives is committed to ensure all researchers working with data receive the necessary support during the Fall/Spring semesters. Data Initiatives is not available during Winter/Summer sessions.

Projects

• Who: Only faculty, staff, and administrators can request a project. Students cannot request a project because students are expected to learn how to complete their own projects and perform their own analyses (see Consultations above).

• When: Requests for projects need to be submitted in August for the Fall semester and in January for the Spring semester.

• Process: Upon submitting the request (see form) the Data Initiatives Coordinator will contact the researcher. 

  • Data - The researcher needs to make the data available in advance (before the introduction meeting can be scheduled). The coordinator will create a folder in google drive for the researcher to upload their data. 

  • Intro Meeting - Data Initiatives will meet with the researcher to determine the three research questions (predictions) that the data can answer. The Data Initiatives team meets on Thursdays from 9:30 to 10 am (other times are available upon request). 

  • Report Meeting - In the second half of the semester the “Report” meeting will take place. In this meeting the researcher will be provided with the clean data, visualizations, and analyses for their project.

• Time: Each project will take approximately one month. The introduction meeting will take place in the first half of the semester, while the report meeting will take place in the second half of the semester. 

• Availability: Data Initiatives can accommodate up to five projects every semester (Fall, Spring) for a total of 10 projects annually. To be considered for a specific term, faculty should submit their request (see form) at the beginning of each semester (August for Fall, January for Spring). Data Initiatives is not available during Winter/Summer sessions.

• Priority: Faculty members who have completed the PLCs “From Idea to Data” and/or “From Data to Publication” will receive priority treatment. Administrators working on projects likely to have the biggest positive impact on the EKU community will receive priority treatment. 

To receive support with your data from the Data Initiatives consultants please complete the Data Initiatives Consultation Request form.