If a study of human behavior, satisfaction, opinion, and/or attitude is of interest to you, the following eight characteristics of Joel LaLone Consulting should be considered when selecting the research group to complete your study:

1.       Experience   
I have over 20 years experience as a researcher and Professor of Statistics and Mathematics.  I have held the position of Research Coordinator at The Center for Community Studies at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, New York since 2002.  I have been the lead researcher in over 50 studies of human behavior and attitude for a wide variety of agencies.

2.       Methodology        
When completing telephone methodology, trained and experienced staff complete all interviews, multiple calls are made to each telephone number (minimum of 4 attempts) to minimize nonresponse bias, tested questions are utilized in the interview, sample sizes are sufficiently large to allow the generalization of findings to the population of interest with a typical margin of error of approximately +/- 4%.  The staff is also experienced in intercept interviewing as well as face-to-face interviewing.  In the past year, the firm has completed several surveys using online surveying.

3.       Statistical Expertise      
Analysis of the collected data will not be restricted to simple overall descriptive summaries of distributions for the region.  Rather, more complex and useful analyses are completed including sorts (cross-tabulations) and correlations by all factors (typically demographic) that the client desires.  These levels of analysis allow for much more useful profiling and targeting of groups for future programming or monitoring by your agency.  If necessary, Joel LaLone Consulting will complete multivariate analyses of the data such as Multiple Regression, ANOVA, MANOVA, Principal Components Analysis, Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis, and Discriminant Analysis.  The staff has expertise in whichever statistical analyses are required to answer all research questions that are posed. 

 4.       Presentation of Findings   
Every study completed by Joel LaLone Consulting includes the offer of a presentation of findings to the client, or any audience identified by the client.  The benefit of this component is that the results of the study can be completely explained to the staff at a coalition or agency, minimizing the difficulty in interpretation that could occur with a statistics-intensive report.  Not every public health professional has recently completed statistics coursework!  I am a SUNY Chancellors Award for Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient and have 20+ years of experience in presenting topics and results … teaching.  This characteristic of Joel LaLone Consulting is a major benefit over typical consulting firms.

5.       Personal Touch            
Joel LaLone Consulting is a small enough firm that I will answer all of your methodological, statistical analysis, and interpretation inquiries personally.  Questions will not be delegated to staff members or graduate students.

6.       Unbiased Independence     
You, and anyone else who reads and critiques the results of an assessment study completed for your region, can be confident that the research was completed by an independent unbiased firm, maximizing the credibility given to your findings when read and used by other groups.

7.       “Training” or “Retraining” of Your Staff              
Historically, during a study completed by Joel LaLone Consulting for an agency such as yours, via the continuous interaction between your staff and the staff of Joel LaLone Consulting, your staff will experience the application of statistics.  More importantly, your staff will encounter statistical analysis of data that is very relevant and important to them.  Through these experiences often your staff will receive either initial training or review of past training in statistical techniques and current statistical software.  These experiences commonly encourage and facilitate further future independent research and analysis by your staff. 

8.       Cost               
The cost of a study completed by Joel LaLone Consulting is very competitive when compared to other larger consulting firms.