Students in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences and those studying forensic psychology may encounter difficulty in their statistics and research methods classes, but the Statistics and Methods Lab is available to help.
As it celebrates its 10-year anniversary, the SAM Lab, located on the West Valley campus, continues to help students with their quantitative and qualitative reasoning skills. The lab also provides help with software like Excel. Student workers may even prep material to go through example datasets with statistical tools to help students conceptualize the practice methods.
SAM Lab manager Emilia Berkes, a graduate student studying psychology, said the lab is intended to explain concepts and go through methodologies.
"We really want to meet the student where they're at and work with them at any level," Berkes said.
How does it work?
To use the lab's resources, students must meet the qualification of either studying forensic psychology or being enrolled in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
The SAM Lab is set up with graduate students as consultants to help students. The consultants are not only proficient in statistics, but also in explaining them.
Qualified students in need of help can either get assistance in person or sign up for an online appointment. The lab's schedule for the Fall 2025 semester is present on the lab's website.
"We encourage students to come with at least an idea of what they need help on," Berkes said. "If a student came in and was like, 'I need help on Excel,' we would try to figure out what assignments, generally, are they working on?"
After initial contact, the SAM Lab assists the student with the problem they bring. However, the SAM Lab doesn't just give students the answers to that assignment — it ensures the students use the correct processes to get to an answer.
SAM Lab's history
There was only ever one statistics lab at the West Valley campus before 2015, which was housed under the School of Natural Math and Natural Sciences.
"It wasn't really clear what the purpose or mission of the stats lab was, and who it was geared toward, and who tended to use it," Deborah Hall, the faculty director of the SAM Lab, said.
As a result, the leaders of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences decided to make their own lab in 2015. Its purpose was to be as visible and accessible as possible to online and in-person students who would qualify.
"We're much more busy online than in person, especially after COVID, but our in-person numbers are increasing," Berkes said.
Despite the increase in people going to the lab for assistance, there are students who qualify to receive help who aren't going to it.
Arwen Co, a junior studying psychology, said she's only read about the SAM Lab on Canvas for one of her classes, but she "didn't care enough to look it up."
"I feel like I would be more inclined to use it (the SAM Lab) if it was for extra credit," Co said.
The SAM Lab has social media pages, like a YouTube channel and an Instagram page. Berkes said some professors advertise the SAM Lab as a resource for their students through flyers and infographics on Canvas. However, she said the location is working on "revamping" its advertisement practices in an attempt to bring more students to the lab.
Alternatives for students
Not all students are able to use the SAM Lab as a resource. However, there are other alternatives for students who do not qualify for the program.
Tutoring is available, and the Psychology Engagement Team on the Tempe campus has "rare study meetings," which can be helpful for students, Raghav Datta, an officer at the Psychology Engagement Team, said.
"We are really focused on helping psych-driven individuals to get good access to connections (and) learn some good material," Datta said.
However, for those who do qualify, the SAM Lab is always in the Faculty and Administration Building in Room B12.
"There are people who feel like they don't do well, or haven't done well in quantitative-oriented classes in high school or in the past, and that's just a psychological barrier," Hall said. "A big part of what we try to do in the SAM lab, and what the team members are trained to do, is to help."
Edited by Kate Gore, George Headley and Sophia Braccio.
Reach the reporter at dmle5@asu.edu.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
