Please contact us at socialdata@montana.edu or (406) 994-5205 for a free consultation. Your message should include basic information about your project (see below), as well as the date by which any cost estimate would be needed.

Preparing for Your Consultation

Social Data provides one free hour of consultation to researchers at the start of a project to help determine the specific needs of the project and to set up a project timeline and budget. To the extent possible, the researcher should be prepared to provide the following information either before or during this consultation session. A potential client unable to provide the following information may need to work further on the research design or may need to pay for further consultation services in order to obtain the estimate. The requested information includes:

  • The date by which the estimate is needed
  • A brief description of the research project, including the research question and purpose
  • The anticipated methods of data collection
  • A description of the population and any requests related to specific sampling procedures or sample characteristics
  • Information about about the recruitment of research participants
  • The funding source or planned funding source
  • The anticipated dates of data collection
  • Data security and confidentiality requirements
  • The desired end products