To help meet the School's growing commitment to research, the Office of Research and Scholarship (ORS) was established in the Fall of 1987. Not only does the School of Nursing have a full complement of biomedical and data laboratories stocked with state-of-the-art equipment, the ORS is staffed with statisticians, systems analysts and programmers, and clerical personnel.
About Us
Systems analysts and programmers are available to provide network and systems support and data management and programming services. Experienced PhD-prepared statisticians are available to support the analysis of data generated from observational (cross-sectional/survey, prospective cohort and retrospective case-control), experimental/intervention, and meta-analytic studies.
In addition to providing methodological, statistical and data processing support for research, the ORS supports educational evaluation in the School of Nursing. Faculty statisticians serve as liaisons to the SON Evaluation Steering Committee, offering measurement, methodological and statistical consultation. ORS staff design and implement end of program surveys and process and analyze survey data collected from program graduates.
The ORS also houses the School of Nursing’s international visiting scholars. These short-term international faculty and students are offered all non-academic services in the ORS such as cubicle space, computers, phone, printers, and any other help pertaining to the logistics of their visit. The ORS administrator and assistant administrator both serve as the non-academic contact persons to the international visiting scholars.
The ORS of the School of Nursing also houses a computer lab for use by research faculty, research staff and doctoral students. The CRS Data Lab contains 8 Dell Pentium-class computers running Windows 10; black and white HP LaserJet printers, and a flatbed scanner (with document feeder) are also available and locally networked. Two additional Fujitsu scanners are dedicated to support data entry via optical scanning.
The ORS Data Lab contains current full-versions of the major statistical software packages (SAS, IBM SPSS, STATA, and S-Plus). Specialty statistical packages are also accessible in the lab, including Mplus, LISREL, EQS, and AMOS for structural equation modeling; HLM for hierarchical modeling; StatXact and LogXact for discrete data analyses with exact estimation methods; SOLAS for missing data description and imputation; and PASS for sample size estimation and power analysis. Popular qualitative analysis software are also available, including ATLAS.ti and Nvivo. Oracle, Access and Excel are available for data management. Teleform is available for data entry and verification of large data sets requiring paper-and-pencil data collection forms.
Our researchers are addressing some of the most challenging issues facing today's health care practitioners. The ORS supports the following areas of research:
- Behavioral management of chronic disorders including adherence, self-management, technology, and prevention activities
- Patient management in critical care including communication, recovery, and end of life care
- Consumer informatics including education, care management, usability, and health literacy
- Genetics applications in nursing care focusing on molecular genetics and psychosocial implications
- Technology for nurses and patients to improve care
The ORS support services include the following:
- Design and consultation for analysis of data, as well as, training in design and data management
- Scientific review of proposals submitted through the OSIRIS to the IRB committees
- Maintenance and dissemination of information on funding, conference and research development and training opportunities
- Faculty, post-doctoral fellow and doctoral student development in research methodology
- Consultation on research program development
Office Hours: Kathleen Kennedy -- 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Open Office Hours for Statistical Consulting for SON Students via Zoom —The open office hours for brief statistical consultation for PhD dissertations, MSN theses and BSN honors are the following:
- Susan Sereika (ssereika@pitt.edu) Mondays 9:00am–10:00am
- Dianxu Ren (dir8@pitt.edu)Thursdays 1:00pm–2:00pm
- Paul Scott (pws5@pitt.edu)Wednesday 11:00am-12:00pm
Students are strongly encouraged to contact statisticians in advance to reserve a 15- to 20-minute block of time during an open office hour.
Senior Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship
Yvette Conley, PhD, FAAN
3500 Victoria Street
440 Victoria Building
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Phone: 412-383-7647
Fax: 412-624-8521
Associate Dean for Computing and Information Technology
Susan M. Sereika, PhD
3500 Victoria Street
361 Victoria Building
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Phone: 412-624-4854
Fax: 412-624-1201
Director for Statistical and Data Support Services
Dianxu Ren, MD, PhD - 412-383-5240 - dir8@pitt.edu - 362A VB
Faculty Statistician
Paul Wesley Scott, PhD - 412-624-4854 - pws5@pitt.edu - 362 VB
Staff
Zhirui Deng, MS - Staff Statistician, - zhd52@pitt.edu
Paulina Gatarz, BA - 412 624-3323 - pag17@pitt.edu - 370A VB
Kathleen Kennedy - 412-624-4854 - kke100@pitt.edu - Front Desk for Office of Research and Scholarship
A. Blair Powell, BS - 412-624-0963 - blair1@pitt.edu - 364B VB