Role of computers in statistical analysis

Computers can be used in each of the four phases of statistical analysis, as well as for data
collection and entry. More specifically, computers can be used for:
 data collection
 data entry
 data checking
 data screening
 definitive analysis
 presentation of results.
Role of Computers in Design and Planning Phase
Several software’s are available to calculate the sample size required for a proposed study. The
standard deviation of the data from the pilot study is required for the sample size calculation.
ADVANTAGES
 increased accuracy and speed to the versatility and ability to handle large amounts of data.
 Informative graphics can also be produced easily,
 and data can be manipulated easily in terms of mathematical operations and
transformations.
 numerical and graphical data analysis; symbolic computations; simulations; storing statistical
knowledge; presentation of results.
 emphasis on exploratory data analysis instead of hypothesis testing;
 (ii) the use of computer-intensive methods;
 (iii) the introduction of new diagnostic methods.
 The following are some new practical procedures in computing which have turned out to
have a great importance for statistics: (i) The change from mainframe batch computing to
personal computing. (ii) The introduction of multiple dynamic displays. (iii) The possibility of
direct manipulation of graphical objects.
, DISADVANTAGES
 the researcher performing the analysis does not understand the statistical rationale behind
the analysis. It often leads to data dredging as well, which refers to the search for significant
relationships by performing a large number of analyses, often without a properly formulated
hypothesis.
 before using any statistical software, you should first understand what kind of analysis is
required and whether the software is performing the relevant analysis.
 In addition, researchers should guard against the temptation to produce large amounts of
computer output that are not required by the planned analysis.

ROLE OF SOFTWARE IN STATISTICS

 software packages are usually produced for use in statistical practice rather than for teaching
are(I)easy to use; (ii) have good supporting material; (iii) are menu-driven; (iv) have colour;
(v) have good graphics; (vi) are interactive; (vii) have relevant content Eg. (e.g. DATADESK,
JMP)
 These computing packages (e.g. Macsyma, Reduce, SMP, Derive, Maple, Mathematica) are
intended for mathematical calculations and extremely useful in probability and statistics as
well.
 A package like Mathematica offers a large number of mathematical tools for both numerical
and graphical computations and contains a lot of useful mathematical knowledge.
 It also contains some statistical packages for statistical data analysis, with information on
statistical distributions.
 These packages can perform algebraic manipulations, integration, differentiation etc…
 The software is designed for questionnaire-based research, called quantitative research,
and for other types of research, such as interviews and focus groups, which is
called qualitative research
SPSS
 One of the most well-known packages for quantitative research is called SPSS, which stands
for Statistics Package for the Social Sciences. It gives many options for statistical
analysis ,the latest version of SPSS is IBM SPSS STATISTICS 20 (purchased by IBM
 It offers output in the form of tables, graphs, pie-charts and other diagrams.
 The software is easy to use, but that does not mean it is problem-free.
 The data put in must be correct and the suitable form of analysis chosen, otherwise the
results will be misleading or simply wrong.
 Provides Data view & variable view
 Measures of central tendency & dispersion
 Statistical inference
 Correlation & Regression analysis
 Analysis of variance
 Non parametric test
 Hypothesis tests: T-test, chi-square, z-test, ANOVA, Bipartite variable
 Multivariate data analysis  Frequency distribution  Data exposition by using various
graphs like line, scatter, bar, ogive, histogram, pie chart
 The key features of SPSS include forecasting and decision trees on data, base edition,
advanced statistics and custom tables add-on package, statistics and charting capabilities,
complex sampling and testing add-on whereas Stata has different add-on packages such as
latent class analysis, endogeneity, Spatial AR models, markdown, nonlinear multi-level
models, finite mixture models, threshold regression etc.
 SPSS enables the data to be summarized, displayed and gives production ready analysis
that can be exported to different types of document such as Excel, PDF etc., whereas Stata
combines endogenous covariates, sample selection and endogenous treatment models for
continuous and positive outcomes.
 SPSS has advanced features such as random effects with solution results, robust and
standard error handling, profile plots with error bars whereas Stata discovers and understand
the unobserved data groups on the basis of Latent Class Analysis (LCA) which is a feature of
Stata.
 PSS compute statistics and standard data errors from complex data sample designs and
analyses data on multi-stage designs too whereas Stata allows creating web pages, texts,
regressions, results, reports, and graphs etc. which automatically reflects on a web page
created.
 .SPSS latest version executes new Bayesian Statistics functions containing regression, t-
tests and ANOVA which is becoming more popular that circumvents a lot of
misunderstanding created by standard statistical analysis whereas Stata has mixed logit
models that provide advanced choice modelling which makes dozens of choices every day to
introduce random effects into choice modelling which results in relaxation of assumption and
increase in flexibility.

 SPSS can quickly create modern charts attractively and their editing in Microsoft
Office tools, which are not easier normally in the native methods, the chart builder in
SPSS can make these things more easier by creating publication standard charts whereas
Stata has Finite mixture models that provide continuously, count, binary, categorical,
censored, ordinal and truncated outcomes which are customized with estimators and
different combinations.
 SPSS provides edit, write and format syntaxes with editor shortcut tools with a simple
keyboard shortcut to join duplicate lines, delete lines and new lines, to remove empty lines, to
move lines up and down and to trim trailing or leading spaces effectively whereas Stata has
Spatial autoregressive models that have observational units called spatial units in the areas
of geographical research.

 SPSS has SPSS Analytic Server, SPSS Modeler, SPSS Statistics and different variable
types such as String and Numeric and has different variable formats whereas Stata has
different word documents to be created to automate the reports and generate results and
graphs in tabular and text formats.

 SPSS can perform Simple Statistical comparison tests and the appropriate test has to be
chosen as per the requirement in order get the desired outcome where as Stata has a multi-
level regression for interval measured outcomes which can be recorded into groupings as
people’s weights and insect counts, grade point averages and thousands of other measures.
 SPSS provides measurement levels in a classical approach using the parameters such as
Nominal variable, Ordinal variable and internal variable and ratio variable which are called
Metric variables whereas Stata can perform powerful linear regression models to find out the
effective size, sample size, and power
 Stata is primarily a data analysis and statistical software which provides a solution for data
science needs, retrieves and manipulates data, visualizes data model, and generates or
produces useful reports. Stata is a powerful statistical software package tool for data
management, data analysis, and graphics.
BASIS FOR SPSS Stata

COMPARISON

Complexity SPSS can be used to model very Stata cannot be suitable for complex
complex data analysis

Analysis It can be used to perform multi-variant Stata provides normal analysis

analysis procedures for large amounts procedures.
of data

Applications SPSS is used in medical and social Stata is mostly used in econometrics
sciences areas

Benefits SPSS can directly generate the outputs Stata has command line and
into reports. documentation feature which is highly
useful.

Utility SPSS is mainly used for complex data Stata is useful in cutting-edge research
management like familiar excel and ideal for developers or researchers.
spreadsheet

Statistical SPSS is a bit stronger in this area Stata is relatively weak in this area
Analysis

Development SPSS is used to improve the agile Stata is used for large-scale applications
development life cycle. development.

SPREADSHEET PACKAGES
 A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. It displays multiple
cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either
alphanumeric text or numeric values.
 Microsoft Excel is popular spreadsheet software. Others spreadsheet packages are Lotus 1-2-
3 Quattro Pro, Javeline Plus, Multiplan, VisiCalc, Supercalc, Plan Perfect etc.
 Commercial Programs -software has been developed for commercial use, such as
spreadsheet and database packages. These packages are useful for providing basic figures
such as averages, standard deviation, and so on. However, for academic research the results
need to be considered as to whether they are statistically significant or not. Commercial
 packages are not (yet) capable of such analyses, and this is why programs such as SPSS are
recommended above spreadsheets and databases.

R (programming language)

 R is a programming language and free software environment for statistical computing and
graphics supported by the R Foundation for Statistical Computing. The R language is widely
used among statisticians and data miners for developing statistical software and data analysis
 R performs a wide variety of functions, such as data manipulation, statistical modeling, and
graphics.
 One really big advantage of R, however, is its extensibility. Developers can easily write their
own software and distribute it in the form of add-on packages.
 used by statisticians, data analysts, researchers and marketers to retrieve, clean, analyze,
visualize and present data.