RESEARCH SUPPORT
Commissioning a Stata Project
A Defined Scope Before Any Work Begins
How a Stata project is scoped: the analyses agreed with you, the do-files, logs and tables that come back, and one fixed project fee confirmed after your materials have been reviewed.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Fixed Project Fee
Same-Day Response
What Does Commissioning a Stata Project Involve?
Commissioning a Stata project means agreeing in writing, before anything is run, what will be analyzed, in what form and what you will receive. A scoped Stata project names the research question and the data, the models or procedures to be carried out, the files returned and the timeline, and it ends with one fixed project fee confirmed after review. OnlineSPSS, a specialist statistical consultancy for academic, clinical and professional research, carries out the agreed analysis in-house with a PhD-level statistician, and a statistically trained Research Coordinator stays your point of contact through delivery. Commissioning the analysis does not transfer the research: every claim made from the results stays under your name and your judgment.
WHEN TO ENGAGE
Situations in Which a Stata Project Is Defined
A project is scoped when a researcher has work to complete in Stata but not yet a plan for what is done, in what order and what comes back.
Analysis Needed, Plan Unclear The data exist and the research question is clear, but the models, the order of work and the outputs have not been written down, so defining them is the first task.
One Part of a Larger Study A single component, such as the panel model or the survey estimates in a paper, has to be done in Stata while the team handles the rest of the study.
Work Already Under Way A project begun by a coauthor or an earlier researcher exists as do-files, and the scope settles what to keep, what to check and what to extend.
A Deadline With Named Outputs A submission, a report or a grant milestone fixes what must exist by a given date, and the scope is written backward from those outputs.
WHAT THE SCOPE DEFINES
What the Written Scope Settles
A Stata project scope is the written agreement behind the work, settling before the analysis starts what is analyzed, what is returned and when.
Question and Data
The research question, the datasets and the unit of analysis are reviewed from the files you share, together with the variables the analysis depends on.
Analyses Agreed
The models or procedures to be run are chosen from the design and the outcome as part of Quantitative Data Analysis, with each marked prespecified or exploratory.
Outputs and Formats
The tables, figures and files returned are listed, with the format your outlet or committee needs, such as Word, Excel or LaTeX tables.
Software Setup
The Stata release and any user-written packages the analysis relies on are named in the scope, so that the files you receive run on the setup your team has.
Timeline
Delivery dates are agreed with you in the light of your submission or reporting deadline, once the materials have been reviewed.
Fee and Process
One fixed project fee is confirmed after the review and before work begins, as set out on the Pricing page, with no hidden extras within the agreed scope.
COMMON SCOPING ISSUES
Scoping Gaps That Make a Stata Project Drift
Projects that go off course usually did so at the scoping stage, and the six gaps below are the ones a written scope is built to close.
Software Named, Question Missing A request such as "run a regression in Stata" leaves out the outcome, the design and the standard errors, so the analysis is defined from the research question first.
Deliverables Left Implicit It is assumed that files will come back in a form the team can rerun, though that has to be written down: the do-files, the logs, labeled data and the Stata version used.
Data Not Seen Before Scoping A scope written without sight of the data misses a panel that will not declare or a sample smaller than described, so the dataset or a description of its structure is part of the review.
Planned and Added Analyses Blurred Analyses added after seeing results are reported as if they were planned, so the scope records which analyses are prespecified and how later additions will be labeled.
Handover Not Planned The project ends and nobody on the team can run the files, so the test to be met, such as a clean run from the source data, is stated at the outset.
Reporting Outside the Brief Tables arrive in one format when the journal wants another, or interpretation was assumed and not included, so the reporting expected is stated at the start.
DELIVERABLES
What a Scoped Stata Project Returns
Stata deliverables and do-files are listed item by item in the scope, so that delivery can be checked against it.
Numbered Do-File Sequence Each agreed analysis in its own numbered do-file, called in turn by one run file, so that the order of work matches the order written into the scope.
Logs Matched to the Scope A log for every agreed analysis, named after its item in the scope, so that you can confirm each promised result was produced.
Labeled Project Data The analysis file as it stood for the final run, labeled to match your codebook, with every variable built during the project listed with its rule.
Tables in the Agreed Layout The tables and figures named in the scope, in the layout your committee or journal uses, each carrying its estimate, interval and number of observations.
Interpretation Memo A memo that reads each result against the research question set out in the scope and notes what the design does and does not allow you to claim.
Handover Notes A note on the folder each file expects and the order in which to run them, so that a coauthor can repeat the final run on another machine.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
A Scope Written From the Files, Not From the Request
An illustration of how a first request becomes a defined Stata project.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE · PUBLIC FINANCE RESEARCH · UNITED STATES
A postdoctoral researcher at a public finance institute needed the municipal revenue models for a working paper carried out in Stata while she wrote the rest of the paper.
Her first request asked for fixed-effects models of municipal revenue on tax rates. The review of her files showed an unbalanced panel, with several municipalities missing years, and a revenue variable that existed only in a second file that had not been shared. The scope was written to include building that variable from the second file, an examination of which municipalities and years were missing, and fixed effects with errors clustered by municipality. The outputs were set backward from the working-paper deadline, and the models were described as associations, with the limits of the design noted. The fixed project fee was confirmed on that scope before any analysis began.
Outcome: The researcher received the written scope, the do-files and logs, a labeled municipal panel file, the regression tables with 95% confidence intervals and a memo on interpretation, delivered as agreed.
This example does not describe a real client or project. We never share details of actual client work, in line with the confidentiality we promise every researcher. This illustrative example is included to show the type, scope, and standard of work involved in this kind of analysis.
SOFTWARE
Software Within a Scoped Project
The scope states the platform as well as the analysis, and Stata is the default here, with another named when the project requires it.
HOW WE ASSESS YOUR PROJECT
We Review Your Actual Research
Your assessment is based on a review of your actual research materials and analytical requirements, not a generic project category.
You Submit Your Project Details
Share whatever is available at the current stage, such as the research aim, protocol or proposal, dataset, variable list, manuscript or statistical requirements.
We Review Your Research and Define the Scope
Your statistically trained Research Coordinator reviews the materials to understand the study design, research questions, data structure, analytical requirements and expected deliverables. If clarification is needed, additional documents or information can be requested before the assessment is finalized.
Your Analysis Is Completed and Delivered
Once the scope and fixed project fee are agreed, the in-house statistician completes the work and the Research Coordinator remains the communication point through delivery, with the analysis, deliverables and timeline as agreed.
RESEARCH RESPONSIBILITY
Statistical Support Within Your Own Research
The scope covers the statistical work and nothing else, so the research it serves stays in the researcher's hands from the first question to the final claim.
Agreed Statistical Support OnlineSPSS provides the agreed methodological, analytical and statistical reporting support, defined in a scope that is confirmed before any work begins.
No Intellectual Contribution OnlineSPSS does not claim any intellectual contribution to your paper, report or thesis. Authorship remains the researcher's.
Your Research Decisions The research question, the substantive interpretation, the discussion and the conclusions remain yours, with overall responsibility.
Confidential Handling Research data and project details are handled confidentially, project information is not published, and an NDA is available where required.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions About Scoping a Stata Project
A written scope prompts practical questions: how detailed it is, how it handles shared work and how it adapts to a thesis or an article.
What is included in a scoped Stata project?
A scoped Stata project at OnlineSPSS includes the analyses agreed with you, the files and tables returned, the timeline and one fixed project fee, all confirmed after review of your materials and before any work begins. The in-house statistician then carries out the agreed analysis, and the research stays yours.
How detailed is a written scope?
Detailed enough that you can check the delivery against it: each analysis is named with its outcome and model, each table or figure is listed, and the files to be returned and the timeline are stated. Where a choice depends on the data, such as which standard errors fit the panel, the scope names the decision and how it will be made.
Can a scope cover one component while I run the rest of the analysis?
Yes. A scope can cover a single component, such as the models for one paper, while you keep the rest. The do-files are structured so that your own commands can sit alongside them, and the assessment reviews what you already have so that the two parts fit together.
Is the work different for a thesis than for a journal article?
The statistical work is the same, and the scope differs in what is reported and how. A thesis usually needs an analysis plan and tables in the committee’s format, and an article needs the journal’s table style and, increasingly, code that can be rerun. In both, the written text and the conclusions remain yours.
How do you protect my research data and confidentiality?
Your data and project details are handled confidentially, and project information is not published. Researcher names and institutions are not used publicly without permission. An NDA is available where required and can be arranged before sensitive materials are shared. Read more about confidentiality and data security.
What happens when I request an assessment, and how long does it take?
You share your research question, design and relevant materials, such as the dataset, any existing do-files and the outputs you expect, and a statistically trained Research Coordinator reviews the request and responds the same day. The analysis, deliverables, timeline and one fixed project fee are then confirmed before any work begins, so the timeline follows from the agreed scope.
Still have a question? Find more answers in our full FAQ.
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Describe the Project
You Want Scoped
Share the question, the data and the outputs you expect, and the review returns a written scope with a fixed project fee for you to consider.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
Fixed Project Fee
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Same-Day Response
Serving Researchers Since 2014