Stat Corner
Statistical Programmer and Consultant
robinh@uoregon.edu
This column introduces you to
the statistical computing resources currently available to UO faculty,
students, and staff. Statistical computing software is generally
designed to run on personal computers, both desktop and laptop models.
For many applications, statistical programs for the PC are as powerful
as the same software installed on larger systems. However, if you’re
a Mac user, your choices of statistical software are limited, and the
few programs that are available generally do not apply advanced or recently
developed statistical techniques.
SAS and SPSS are the two most common choices for applications of statistical methods at the UO. Both programs handle routine data analysis tasks quite well. SAS is currently the only statistical software we offer for installation on personal computers campuswide. We don’t currently offer a university-wide license for SPSS. However, you may be able to run SPSS on a computer located in a campus computing laboratory or a departmental computer, or you may purchase your own copy from SPSS. For students, an affordable version of SPSS is the Grad Pack available for purchase at a much reduced cost compared to the regular fee. The Student Version of SPSS is not recommended since its functionality for data analysis is extremely limited.
Other programs such as STATA and SCA may be found within specific departments, but these are not officially supported by Information Services. For more details about these issues, including a detailed introduction to statistical computing at the University of Oregon, see http://www.uoregon.edu/~robinh/stat_comput.html
Installation and Renewal Instructions for SAS
If you’d like to install SAS, you may check out disks from the Documents Room Library (McKenzie 175). For new installations or previously installed versions (Version 8.2 or Version 9.1.3 of SAS), you will need to obtain a license for the new academic year 2006-07. After you complete the request form at http://ssil.uoregon.edu/sas/, you’ll receive this new file as an attachment to the email address you specify. Detailed instructions on installing SAS or for renewing your license are online at http://www.uoregon.edu/~robinh/012load.htmlWhat about Spreadsheets?
Spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel are also widely available for desk and laptop computers. While spreadsheets are helpful tools for data entry, storage, simple calculations, and graphs, they are rarely suitable for statistical analysis. Available methods are limited to the most basic choices (which assume one observation per subject), and they can be very awkward to run, especially if your dataset contains many rows and columns. You’ll find more information on the disadvantages of using Microsoft Excel as a statistics program at http://www.practicalstats.com/Pages/excelstats.html