Research application development and support

About the service

Capturing research data is one of the longest and most important aspects of a research project. Inaccurate data collection can impact the results of a study and ultimately lead to invalid results and hence, we offer a number of internal/external tools and services to help you easily capture and discover the data you need, and manage participants in your research project.  This includes general and clinical surveys, clinical trial randomisation services, participant management tools, and tools for both generalised and discipline specific data capture including microscopy, biodiversity, climate change, and urban data. Visit our resources page to access a list of available datasets.

If you are looking for specific software, the software website offers free or subsidised rates for the following applications: MATLAB, Nvivo, SAS, SPSS, ArcGIS and Ansys.

If you're completing your honours, masters or a PhD and need help with your data-intensive project, you should visit HackyHour. Bring your laptop and join us for a free hands-on lesson in many languages, including R, Python, ArcGIS (and soon MATLAB and SPSS) and spend less time wrestling with software and more time doing useful research.

This service is available to

This service is available to researchers and HDR students.

What can I expect?

Service Includes:

• Application Development
  • Requirement specification and project initiation through to product development and completion for research related application development.
  • Smart Meter Information Portal (SMIP): A secure service provided to assist researchers from the Smart Water Research Centre in the query and maintenance of water logger details and associated data (logger data, household survey data, logger history). Restricted access to this site may be granted to suitable external collaborators.
    • The Griffith University Smart Water Research Centre manages this service.
    • Website: http://sirservices.griffith.edu.au/smip
  • eResearch Services partner with researchers on projects and can supply skilled staff for short term projects. Situations will vary depending on the work and funding arrangements.

• Clinical Trial Data Management and Survey Tool
  • REDCap: A secure, web-based application for building and managing online surveys and databases. It provides automated export procedures for seamless data downloads to Excel and common statistical packages (SPSS, SAS, Stata, R), as well as a built-in project calendar, a scheduling module, ad hoc reporting tools, and advanced features, such as branching logic, file uploading, and calculated fields
    • Website: https://www151.griffith.edu.au/redcap/
    • Support request webform https://www151.griffith.edu.au/redcap/plugins/support/support.html
    • eResearch Services partner with researchers on projects and can supply skilled staff for short term projects. Situations will vary depending on the work and funding arrangements.

• Clinical Trials Randomisation Service
  • An automated service that provides random allocation to Randomised Controlled Trials (RTC). Researchers within the study team log in, and then enter key information. Allocation occurs instantly. Confirmation emails are generated automatically and sent to relevant personnel in the study team. This provides a completely independent randomisation process compatible with all major clinical trial standards and guidelines including those required by the International Council of Medical Journal Editors.
  • Website: https://www151.griffith.edu.au/ctcc
  • eResearch Services partner with researchers on projects and can supply skilled staff for short term projects. Situations will vary depending on the work and funding arrangements.

• Online Research Survey Tools
  • The Online Research Survey Tool allows researchers to create, develop and distribute an online survey, while also providing them with support, documentation, training and data management.
  • Website: http://www.griffith.edu.au/survey-centre
  • Support request webform https://prodsurvey.rcs.griffith.edu.au/Help
  • This service is provided free of charge

• Microscopy Portal
  • This service uses the software Columbus, from Perkin Elmer. Columbus integrates tightly with the Opera and Operetta High Content Imaging Systems and is based on the OMERO system by Open Microscopy Environment. It can also visualize images and image data from most other microscopes via the Bioformats library. Analysis tools are available via building blocks. This allows you to easily create and customize algorithms to compare multiple samples, plates or batches. Visualized results can then be exported to formats such as Excel and PowerPoint and can interface with Accelrys Pipeline Pilot, IDBS ActivityBase and Volocity.
  • Website: http://microscopy.griffith.edu.au/
  • Support request webform http://microscopy.griffith.edu.au/gu_help
  • Request account webform http://microscopy.griffith.edu.au/gu_help?account=True
  • This is offered as a self-service application and is free of charge

• Scientific Software Support
  • Programming/scripting support is available for tasks such as:
    • Automating data processing tasks that need to be done repeatedly;
    • Processing of very large datasets; and
    • Complex data processing that requires advanced programming skills.
  • Support for database technologies is available to assist with tasks such as:
    • Database design
    • Importing datasets (e.g. from Excel spreadsheets)
    • Developing database queries
    • Exporting data for analysis with other software tools
  • Assistance with popular data analysis software (e.g. R, python, Matlab and ArcGIS) can be provided where an eResearch support staff member has the required skills.
  • Griffith has negotiated licensing agreements for many products used for data analysis, modelling and simulation. Products available free-of-charge or at subsidised rates include but are not limited to:
    • MATLAB - mathematical modelling and visualisation
    • Nvivo - qualitative analysis
    • SAS - statistical analysis
    • SPSS - statistical analysis
    • ArcGIS - geographical mapping and analysis
    • Ansys - engineering computation tool
    • Products and pricing can be obtained via the Software web site.
  • eResearch Services partner with researchers on projects and can supply skilled staff for short term projects. Situations will vary depending on the work and funding arrangements.

• Infrastructure Provisioning
  • Requirement gathering and provisioning of hardware, software, network resources and services required for the existence, operation and management of research and research related activities.
  • eResearch Services partner with researchers on projects and can supply skilled staff for short term projects. Situations will vary depending on the work and funding arrangements.

• Consulting service for other data capture
  • Requirement gathering and consultation to determine client needs for research
  • eResearch Services partner with researchers on projects and can supply skilled staff for short term projects. Situations will vary depending on the work and funding arrangements.

Service Excludes:

• Non-research and personal data capture development
• Infrastructure provisioning for non-research based or personal websites
• Support for data capture, applications and scientific software managed by other organizational units at Griffith.