Organizations typically hire biostatisticians to: 

• Optimize a study design
• Interpret research results
• Derive insights from complex data
• Design a clinical trial
• Write the statistical section of a research paper
• Measure the effectiveness of surveys and public health programmes

However, it can be expensive to hire a biostatistician in-house. Hiring a freelance biostatistician can help organizations and researchers access expert skills at a budget of their choice. This is of benefit especially to smaller contract research organizations, businesses, medical researchers, NGOs and governments, who may not have the budget to hire an full-time biostatistician.

Biostatisticians working in traditional careers earn a median salary of USD 72,000. It is likely for statisticians holding at least a masters’ degree in statistics or public health to be paid higher than average.

Kolabtree provides access to freelance biostatisticians who charge a fee of between USD 400 and USD 2,400, depending on the nature of the project. You can also hire statisticians by the hour.

While hiring a biostatistician online, it is important to write the job description clearly, stating all your requirements. Make a note of the following things and have them ready: 

• Scope of work: Mention clearly what the nature of the project is, and define the deliverable(s). 
• Duration of the project: How long do you anticipate the project to take? This will help freelancers understand if the timelines work according to their schedule. 
• By when you need to hire: Define till when you’d like to keep the project open for applications. One week or more is ideal if you’d like to negotiate with multiple freelancers and choose the best suited one.
• Budget: Indicate a fee for the project. You can either pay a fixed fee or a per project fee. You can discuss milestones, timelines and expectations with the freelancer to arrive at a mutually agreeable fee. 
• Skills required: If you’re hiring a biostatistician, it is likely that you will want them to have expertise in statistical tools like R, SPSS and SAS. You may also seek to hire a biostatistics expert who can work on Excel, Tableau or other data visualization software.

Biostatistics is a diverse field within itself, and you should narrow down experts based on their skills and educational background. For example, if you’re looking for someone to help with an epidemiology project, you might want to consider an expert with a degree in public health, medical statistics or epidemiology. If you’re looking for help with understanding sequencing data, you might consider genomics experts.

Ready to hire a biostatistician? Post your project on Kolabtree and get quotes from freelance biostatisticians for free.