How Statisticians Affect the World

I chance upon this article:

AP Impact: Statisticians reject global cooling

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_sc/us_sci_global_cooling

This is a good read for all to recognize the value of statistics in our everyday lives. A good read also for all statistics students, some sort of warning for them to be careful when analyzing and interpreting data. :)

Graphs or Tables

When do we use graphs? When do we use tables?

Which is more appropriate -- a graph or a table?

Simple rule: If you want to present details or values from your data - use tables.

If you want to present a trend - use graphs.

Here's a good write-up on the use of graphs and tables for presentation purposes:

http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/articles/using_graphs_and_tables.htm

Lies, lies, lies and statistics

Here's a good read about Statistics' potentials --http://my.execpc.com/~helberg/pitfalls/

SAS vs SPSS vs STATA

As a biostatistician, I've always been asked by students, residents, consultants which statistical software is the best. Unfortunately, i don't have any definite straight answer for that question. It is the same thing with any question bothering us about our life... before we can answer, or decide, we have to weigh different factors. Top 3 considerations? Read on...

1. Why do you need a statistical software? Main purpose?

If you are just a college student and you'll just be using the software for the basic statistics course, then you might not need to buy expensive licenses (yes they are very costly), there are a lot of free online statistical calculators that one can use for simple statistical analysis. Of course, it would be a different story, if you have a statistical consulting firm, you might need more than one statistical software since each software has their own unique tools for different situations. In the academics, SAS, SPSS, and STATA are very well accepted and recognized. In the pharmaceutical industry, in some countries such as the Philippines, they require SAS for clinical trials.

2. Who is the end-user?

Some softwares may require additional training for new users. SAS is a software that is heavy on programming, while SPSS has an interface that is more user-friendly.

3. Budget?

I think, SAS License is the most expensive of the three (at least here in the Philippines), followed by SPSS, and then STATA.

If there is no budget at all, and one is in health research -- then EPI-INFO or OPEN-EPI is the best option. They are actually freewares :)

Link for EPI-INFO: http://www.cdc.gov/EpiInfo/

Link for OPEN-EPI: http://www.openepi.com/Menu/OpenEpiMenu.htm