Is it too late to involve a statistician after data collection?

Not too late to help, but too late to fix some things. A statistician involved at design can prevent an underpowered study, an unmeasured confounder, or an outcome defined in a way no journal will accept. After collection we work with what exists — and we tell you honestly which questions the data can and cannot answer.

Can you calculate sample size when there is no pilot data?

Yes. We use published estimates from comparable populations, the smallest clinically important difference agreed with your clinical team, or a precision-based approach that targets a confidence-interval width rather than a hypothesis test. The assumptions and their source are always stated explicitly so reviewers can judge them.

Do you help with ethics committee and registration submissions?

Yes. We prepare the methodological and statistical sections, and respond to methodological queries raised by the committee or the registry.

Service

Study design & protocol development

Most of the problems we are asked to rescue at the analysis stage were created at the design stage — and could not be fixed afterwards by any statistical method.

What should be decided before a clinical study starts collecting data?

Before data collection begins you should have a precise, answerable research question; a study design that can actually answer it; explicit eligibility criteria; clearly defined exposures, outcomes and covariates with their measurement instruments; a sample-size calculation based on the smallest clinically important effect; a pre-specified statistical analysis plan including how missing data and confounding will be handled; and a data-collection instrument built so that the variables arrive in analysable form. Each of these is far cheaper to fix now than after enrolment.

What this service includes

Research question refinement: Turning a broad clinical interest into a specific, answerable question with a defined population, comparator, outcome and timeframe.
Design selection: Randomised, cluster-randomised, crossover, cohort, case–control, nested case–control, cross-sectional, diagnostic accuracy, and pragmatic designs — chosen for the question and the constraints, not for convenience.
Sample size & power: Calculations for superiority, non-inferiority, equivalence and precision-based aims, inflated for clustering, stratification, interim looks and expected attrition, with simulation where no closed form exists.
Bias control by design: Randomisation and allocation-concealment schemes, blinding, matching, restriction, and a causal diagram identifying the minimal sufficient adjustment set.
Protocol writing: Full protocols aligned with SPIRIT for trials and with STROBE-compatible planning for observational studies, ready for ethics and registration.
Case report form design: Data-collection instruments and REDCap-style variable specifications built so the export is analysable without restructuring.
Pre-specified analysis plan: Estimands, primary and secondary analyses, missing-data strategy, subgroup plan and multiplicity control written down before the data exist.
Registration & ethics support: Registration text, ethics application statistics sections, and responses to methodological queries from review boards.

What you receive

Refined research question and PICO framing
Full study protocol
Sample-size justification paragraph
Causal diagram and adjustment set
Case report form / data dictionary
Pre-specified statistical analysis plan

Independently verified before it reaches you

Every primary result is reproduced from the cleaned dataset by a second statistician before delivery, and you receive the analysis scripts so any number in the manuscript can be traced back to a line of code and a row of data.

Tell us about your project.

Book a free 15-minute consultation. Tell us the research question, the data you have, and the deadline — we will tell you honestly what is achievable.

Book a free 15-minute call All services

Or call +20 100 163 8864 · Sunday–Thursday, 09:00–18:00 (GMT+2, Cairo)

Study design & protocol development

What this service includes

What you receive

Independently verified before it reaches you

Common questions

Often needed alongside this.

Biostatistics & data analysis

Data management & validation

Research mentorship

Tell us about your project.