The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center serves as a central repository for information collected by the SCI Model Systems. Each Model System collects the same information on their patients and submits it to the Center. The information that is collected is analyzed to assess the experience of people with SCI over time and across geographic regions.
Collaborative projects are research studies that involve two or more SCI Model Systems. There is a lead researcher (called the "principal investigator" or PI) from one site, but research participants are drawn from all of the sites collaborating on the project. The main purpose of conducting research projects involving multiple sites is to increase the number of potential participants in the study. The more participants in a study, the more useful the findings are likely to be.
Independent projects are research studies that involve only one model system, as opposed to collaborative projects that involve several model systems.
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