All right.  Well, to be honest, this is when most people come to the statistician, because they are now having trouble due to their lack of planning.

And, this is the hardest time to help you.  After all, nothing can be changed.  You already designed the study and collected the data.  In the worst case, the data you collected will be worthless for actually answering your research question!

Now is not the time to be coy.  You need to lay all your cards on the table so that you can get effective help to move forward as efficiently as possible.

So, you need to provide the following to the statistician:

• At least minimal background on the subject of the study.

• A clear explanation of your research hypotheses.

• A concise summary of the design of the study.

• A description of how the study actually went.

• A way of looking at the data structure.

The last point in some ways is most important.    This can often be accomplished by simply bringing the data along for display on a laptop or having a printout of the data.  In cases where there is too much data to print, it could still be useful to print out at least a page or two of data.

For a statistician, looking at data is pleasurable, perhaps even more so than talking with you, so do not worry about boring anyone.   More seriously, though, since the data are where the rubber meets the road for statisticians, having the ability to review the data structure is going to enable a much more focused and useful conversation to take place.