Free Consultation Service
The consultation service is free of charge for members of the Charité and affiliated institutions.
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Consulting for Monograph and Publication Doctorate Degrees
You are welcome to make use of the Service Unit's free statistical consultation services to accompany your research.
- Ideally, you should arrange a consultation at the beginning of your doctoral project, i.e. in the planning phase, and another appointment in the implementation or evaluation phase. Please also bring the copy of your doctoral agreement confirmed by the doctoral office to the first consultation appointment. Please make an appointment online in good time, as the availability of appointments depends on the respective demand.
- Doctorate by means of a Monograph
- If your doctoral project includes a relevant statistical part, you must submit a certificate issued by a statistician accredited by the doctoral commission stating, that the statistical processing is sufficient in type and scope together with your application for the opening of the doctoral procedure (§ 8 para. 2 a PromO). As the contents of our consultations are documented, the Service Unit Biometry's consultant can issue that certificate of the accompanying statistical advice.
- If you are planning a doctoral project using a monograph that does not include a relevant statistical part (for example, in a purely humanities-based project), please indicate this in the appropriate section of the doctoral agreement. You will be exempted from the obligation to submit a certificate in accordance with Section 8 (2)a PO 2017.
- Publication Doctorate
- you are generally not required to submit a certificate in accordance with Section 8 (2)a PO 2017. Statistical advice is recommended, nevertheless.
The scientific staff of the Institute of Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology are recognized as accredited statisticians by the doctorial office. The consultation service of the Institute's Biometrics Service Unit is explicitly recommended.
Research Consulting
During the planning phase of a medical research project:
General statistical consulting on study planning, in particular on
- selection of the study design,
- selection of appropriate primary and secondary endpoints,
- definition of the analysis sets (Intention-to-Treat, Per Protocol).
- consulting on the planned statistical evaluation strategy, in particular on
- formulation of hypotheses and test strategy for the primary endpoint,
- evaluation strategies for secondary endpoints and safety data
- der planning of interim evaluations and possible design adaptations
- correct and efficient handling of multiplicity,
- imputation of missing values,
- modelling and the consideration of confounder
- consulting and execution of case number calculations and power analysis
- consulting on the choice of suitable statistical analysis software
- consulting on general questions of data management and data documentation
Support in the preparation of applications for third-party funding and ethics committees, in particular
- the formulation of the statistical parts of ethics applications, study protocols and third-party funding applications,
- general comments and opinions on ethics applications, study protocols and applications for third-party funding,
- the cost calculation for biometric procedures within the scope of medical third-party funding applications.
In the implementation phase of a medical research project:
Advice on dealing with problems during data collection, such as
- recruitment problems
- missing values
- incorrect planning assumptions
- upport on questions regarding data management
In the evaluation phase of a medical research project:
- help for self-help in the evaluation of projects with independent data evaluation
- support and advice on the adequate use of software
- support on the interpretation of the results
- support in the general reporting and the publication of the results (co-authorship of the Institute for substantial participation)
How to get an appointment?
Please register by use of our online form
To register, you need to identify yourself as eligible by using your official e-mail account (xxx.yyy@charite.de, @bih.de, @mdc.de).
Charité doctoral students can simply go to the Charité matriculation office with their doctoral registration and matriculate as a doctoral student. They will then be provided with a Charité email account.
What next?
- your details will be recorded to our internal database for documentation and administrative purposes.
- you will be assigned a consultant depending on your subject as well as on your requests made concerning consultant and location
- your consultant will then contact you shortly, usually within 5 working days, and arrange for an appointment.
How do I prepare for the consultation?
- You should be able to give a short and concise description of your project. Avoid terminology.
- You should be able to formulate the scientific objectives of your project clearly as yes/no questions.
- Have relevant literature with you (study protocol, literature sources, etc.).
Do I need consultation?
- We recommend a biometric consultation for all medical research projects, if possible already during the planning phase. In particular, we recommend biometric consulting for doctoral theses.
- Studies that must be approved by either Charité's Ethics Committee or LAGeSo Ethics Committee (AMG studies, MPG studies) require the mandatory participation of a biometrician. Our staff have extensive experience both in drafting ethics proposals as well as statistical members of various ethics committees.
Please note: Biometric consulting does not mean taking responsibility for the entire project biometrics. Taking responsibility needs to be covered by a cooperation agreement with corresponding counter-financing.