click here
to
return
to methods page
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to return to
social change page
This page lists primarily statistical software, along with mapping,
spreadsheets, database, stuff to do data analysis or management.
At the bottom of this page, I list some pages that link to other free
software and computer related stuff, like browsers, office suites,
computer security, etc.
Please note: I've only used a few of these
software programs
a little bit, so I can't say much about how good they are, whether they
crash, have viruses, or much else about them. If you use
them,
please
let me know how well they work. If there are any major
problems,
I'll take them off this list. I'm sorry to add the usual
disclaimer
that, while I don't expect any probems with them, if you use any of
these,
I can't be responsible for any problems that may occur.
Also, I'm not necessarily recommending any, just providing info and
links.
Statistics
There are many free statistical programs. Here http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Free_statistical_software
for
an
article
at Citizendium about free statistical software (draft
as of April 2009).
Also see here http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/softsum.html
for a brief summary of some of the programs.
Several of these stat programs were
reviewed in an article in the Journal of
Industrial Technology, (Volume 21-2, April 2005). http://www.nait.org/jit/current.html
"A
Short
Preview
of Free Statistical Software Packages for Teaching
Statistics to Industrial Technology Majors" Ms. Xiaoping Zhu and
Dr. Ognjen Kuljaca. The programs reviewed include Vista, IDAMS,
IRRISTAT, OS3, PAST and Instat+
Another review looked
at R and mentioned a few others (OpenStat and MicroOsiris). "Free
Statistics Software, Yours, Free to keep...." Felix Grant,
Scientific Computing World, Sept/Oct 2004, http://www.scientific-computing.com/scwsepoct04free_statistics.html
I also compared 8 programs (OpenStat,
easyreg, epidata, WinIDAMS, instat, MicrOsiris, Epi Info and PSPP), and added
excel and Gnumeric, when data sets
have no missing values, shown
here http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/comparing_freestaprograms.html
Basically,
for
correlation
and simple regression, all gave the same or
similar
results. Some also had the same results for forward stepwise.
I also compared 3 programs (MicrOsiris Epi Info, WinIDAMS), when data sets
do have missing values, shown
here
http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/comparing_freestaprograms_missing.html
Basically,
for
correlation
and simple regression all gave the same
results. These are also the
only programs that I can get to successfully and reliably handle
missing data with my data sets. WinIDAMS isn't so easy but after a lot
of tries and emails with UNESCO staff, I understood it well enough to
get it to work. Also, Stat4U didn't work well on my data, but may work
well on other data.
Epi Info
Epi Info 2000 Windows
is
available
from http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/index.htm
It is very large in size and will take considerable time to
download.
This is a program for entering and analyzing data, developed for
epidemiologists,
but can be used for basic statistical analysis by anyone.
This
program
is also not easy to learn on your own, but see a couple of free on line
manuals:
Data Analysis With Epi Info. B. Burt
Gerstman
(Nov.
2000) http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/EpiInfo/
This
is
for
the dos version.
This site also links to
Introduction to Epi Info and other resources http://www.epiinformatics.com/
Relational Database Management Systems for
Epidemiologists http://www.idready.org/rdbms/database_RDBMS.html
has
a
powerpoint
tutorial for epi info and a step by step pdf guide.
The North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness Training
Website http://nccphp.sph.unc.edu/training/index.html
has free on line training classes for epi info.
CDC's tutorials http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/tutorials.htm
CDC/Census Bureau software
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to top
Answer http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/software/answr/index.htm
AnSWR is a software system for coordinating and conducting large-scale,
team-based analysis projects that integrate qualitative and
quantitative
techniques.
ez-text http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/software/ez-text/index.htm
a software program developed to assist researchers create, manage, and
analyze semi-structured qualitative databases.
CSPro (Census and Survey
Processing System) http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/cspro/index.html
a
public-domain
software
package for entering, tabulating and mapping
census
and survey data.
Integrated Microcomputer
Processing System
(IMPS)
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/imps/index.html
"performs
the
major
tasks in survey and census data processing: data
entry,
data editing, tabulation, data dissemination, statistical analysis and
data capture control."
R, a very widely used
program, with tons of documentation
R: The Comprehensive R
Archive Network http://cran.r-project.org/
"R,
also
known
as "GNU S", is a language and environment for
statistical
computing and graphics." It is, I understand, like S+, a
statistical
language. R is better for graphics than SAS.
However, R is
complex, and takes a lot of study, so only use this if you have complex
statistical or graphical needs. If this site doesn't work,
try http://cran.us.r-project.org/
in
the
US,
or http://www.stats.bris.ac.uk/R/
in
the
UK.
One graphical interface is described here http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Misc/Rcmdr/
and available here http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/Rcmdr/index.html
This covers some basic stats.
Another interface is http://rkward.sourceforge.net/
From
the
website "RKWard is meant to become an easy to use,
transparent frontend to the R-language, a very powerful, yet
hard-to-get-into scripting-language with a strong focus on statistic
functions. "
R help mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
announcements,
questions
and
answers, etc.
Tutorials, faqs, guides..... Many of these were
posted on the American Evaluation Association email list.
The R site lists other guides http://cran.r-project.org/other-docs.html
including
Simple
R,
and many others.
R faq
page http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/R/CRAN/doc/FAQ/R-FAQ.html
basics,
programming,
bugs,
etc.
Using R for psychological research http://personality-project.org/r/
Tutorial http://www.math.ilstu.edu/dhkim/Rstuff/Rtutor.html
Why R http://www.statland.org/R/WhyR.htm
from
Bob
Hayden,
some handouts for R.
R Graph Gallery http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques/
graphs
and
code
on how to get them.
Paul Murrell's page http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/
has
slides
and
some instructions for R.
Rtips http://pj.freefaculty.org/R/Rtips.html
various
tips.
Notes on the use of R for psychology experiments and
questionnaires http://www.psych.upenn.edu/~baron/rpsych/rpsych.html
J
Baron
and
Y Li, 2006.
Kickstarting R http://www.unt.edu/rss/class/splus/Rkickstart/index.html
from
Research
and
Statistical Support, U North Texas
Quick R http://www.statmethods.net/
shows
code
for
how to do lots of things, from basic data entry to
statistics.
Other - General packages
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top
ADE-4 http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/ADE-4/home.php?lang=eng
ADE-4 is a multivariate analysis
and graphical
display software
package.
I sometimes have difficulty with this link. I'll
leave it here anyway.
AM statistical software http://am.air.org/
AM is a statistical software package for analyzing
data
from complex samples, especially large-scale assessments.
Arc regression software
http://www.stat.umn.edu/arc/software.html
"Arc
is
a
free, unique, menu-driven statistical analysis tool for
regression
problems." The current version is from 2004.
Easyreg
http://econ.la.psu.edu/~hbierens/EASYREG.HTM
This
is
actually
an econometrics program, but it apparently does basic
statistics as well, and some very advanced statistics related to
econometrics,
including time series analysis.
There is a tutorial for Easyreg here http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/mcallan/Econ160/Econ160main.html
by
Myles
J.
Callan
Epidata
http://www.epidata.dk/
"a
data-entry
and
data-checking program for Microsoft
Windows."
Epidata is data entry and data checking. It can also do some basic
analysis.
A related site is Pepi for
windows
at http://www.brixtonhealth.com/
- some
statistical
tests and descriptives.
This
site also includes a few other programs such as EpiGram, simple
diagramming
software, and SampleXS, which is a sample size calculator, which allows
for design effects. The help box has very good documentation
about
sampling and what the program does. For social surveyors, you
need
to change the confidence interval to 5 rather than .5.
GenStat Discovery http://www.vsni.co.uk/software/genstat-discovery/
"GenStat Discovery Edition is a free version of GenStat developed by
VSN
International for use by not-for-profit research organisations,
charities and educational institutes based in the developing
world."
Instat http://www.ssc.rdg.ac.uk/software/instat/instat.html
general statistical package. I've used this to import an excel file.
Correlations do okay when correlating two variables. At present, the
last case has to have values for all variables for Instat to completely
read the data, at least for correlation.
Irristat http://www.irri.org/science/software/irristat.asp
Another
program.
Have
to regeister to download this. "IRRISTAT is a
computer
program for data management and basic statistical analysis of
experimental
data. IRRISTAT has been developed primarily for the analysis
of
data
from agricultural field trials, but many of the features can be used
for
analysis of data from other sources." This is from the
Biometrics
and Bioinformatics Unit, International Rice Research Institute, in
Metro
Manila, Philippines.
Irristat is used for analysis in an agricultural FAO
report http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4391E/y4391e00.htm
in
the
forward and the
following pages.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/Y4391E/y4391e0b.htm,
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4391E/y4391e08.htm
MicrOsiris http://www.microsiris.com/
This
program
"is
derived from OSIRIS IV, a statistical and data
management package developed and used at the University of Michigan and
includes special techniques for data mining and analysis of nominal-
and ordinal-scaled data. Its free but can contribute $25 to
get
rid of start up reminder screen.
Openstat http://www.statpages.org/miller/openstat/
Free
statistical
program.
I've used this one a bit
and it is
comparatively
easy to use, except I have problems importing excel or csv
files. There is also a linux version of this
program,
and
the author is frequently updating the program.
PSPP http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/
"is
a
program
for statistical analysis of sampled data. It is a Free
replacement for the proprietary program SPSS, and appears very similar
to it with a few exceptions."
This page http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/get.html
lists
where
you
can get it, in all the different versions (windows,
unix, mac, etc)
A discussion list is here http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pspp-users
A blog is here http://www.cecaps.ufmg.br/pspp/?lang=en
(English
version)
A tutorial is here http://wiki.michelboaventura.com/index.php?title=Apostila_do_PSPP
in
Portugese,
along with a blog http://pspp.michelboaventura.com/
A "how to" page is here http://pspp.kiberpipa.org/wiki/doku.php
instructions
on
how to do various stuff
A video on PSPP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d44AdFZIfZc
by
a student. 5 minutes, an overview of a few things.
A kind of wiki page about pspp http://sakla.net/cgi-bin/oddmuse.cgi/HomePage
kind
of brief, some things about plans, links that show popularity.
SalStat
http://salstat.sourceforge.net/
runs on windows, linux, mac. It is in beta, but according to the site,
"it can already do a range of descriptive statistics, t tests (paired,
unpaired and one sample), and 3 kinds of correlations." Last updated in
2003.
SOFA - Statistics Open For All http://www.sofastatistics.com/home.php Currently
being
developed.
Has
some basic procedures, mean, median, sd,
independent and paired t-tests, Mann-Whitney U,
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks, Pearson's Chi Square, one-way ANOVAs, Kruskal Wallis H, and
Spearman's and Pearson's correlations. Can link directly to data
from MySQL, SQLite,
MS Access, and MS SQL Server, and can
import data in csv or Excel format. Further information is
here http://sourceforge.net/projects/sofastatistics/
Statistical lab http://www.statistiklabor.de/en/
for
teaching
stat
and for doing some analysis.
visicube http://www.datamology.com/
At least the 'basic' program is free. Add ons will have a fee attached.
Vista
http://forrest.psych.unc.edu/research/
visual
statistical
system.
WinIDAMS http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2070&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
WinIDAMS is a software package internationally developed by
UNESCO for
the validation, manipulation and statistical analysis of numerical data
of any kind.
(This site takes a while to load.)
I've been using this program for a while. Here are some
tips: http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/winidams_tips.html
Winstat http://math.exeter.edu/rparris/winstats.html
bunch
of
stat
features.
Zelig http://gking.harvard.edu/zelig/
"Zelig
is
a
single, easy-to-use program that can estimate, help
interpret, and present the results of a large range of statistical
methods." Based on R.
On line statistical analysis
Brightstat http://www.brightstat.com
bunch
of
on
line procedures.
Statistics Online Computational Resource http://www.socr.ucla.edu/
another
on
line
Qualitative data analysis
(qda)
What is qda, how to do it, what software... look at these pages.
On line qda http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/index.php
some
how
to,
links to software, reviews of software
Qual page http://www.qualitativeresearch.uga.edu/QualPage/
lists
some
software
TextStat http://www.niederlandistik.fu-berlin.de/textstat/software-en.html
free
simple
text
analysis software. Word counts, and also
shows
where
the words appear.
Weft QDA http://www.pressure.to/qda/
Weft
QDA
is
an easy-to-use tool to assist in the analysis of textual
data such as interview transcripts, written texts and fieldnotes.
Wordle http://www.wordle.net/
is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you
provide. Not exactly analysis, but looks kind of interesting.
Classifcation and data mining
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top
Guide http://www.stat.wisc.edu/~loh/guide.html
Classification
and
regression
tree software.
Rule Discovery System
http://www.compumine.com/web/public/home
appears
to
be
free data
mining software, including classification and regression tree analysis.
Tanagra http://chirouble.univ-lyon2.fr/~ricco/tanagra/index.html
data
mining
Weka http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~ml/
machine
language
used
for data mining.
Here are some tutorials
http://maya.cs.depaul.edu/~Classes/Ect584/Weka/
http://research.cs.queensu.ca/home/cisc333/tutorial/Weka.html
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to
top
Lists of free stat software
John C. Pezzullo's list of free statistical
software http://statpages.org/javasta2.html
The First and MAIN list of software. I got links to several of
the stat
packages
listed here from Mr. Pezzullo's site, which lists more info about each
package.
List of free
software http://en.freestatistics.info/stat.php
lists various packages, some of which are listed above.
StatSci list of free software http://www.statsci.org/free.html
also
lists
some
of the above.
List of free statistical software http://statistiksoftware.com/free_software.html
list
of
some
programs with lots of notes about many of them, i.e.,
features, requirements.
Impoverished Social Scientist's Guide http://maltman.hmdc.harvard.edu/socsci.shtml
stat software and some other stuff.
Association for Survey Computing software index http://www.asc.org.uk/Register/index.htm
lists
some
free
stat software, although there isn't a seperation
between free and commercial, so it's kind of hard to find the
free ones.
Stat with
excel
Statistics with excel http://phoenix.phys.clemson.edu/tutorials/excel/
see
chapter
10
Excel For Statistical Data Analysis http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/excel/excel.htm
general
tutorial
Excel for Statistics http://www.reading.ac.uk/ssc/software/excel/home.html
some
overviews
and
some tips and warnings of problems
Using Excel for Statistical Data Analysis - Caveats http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~evagold/excel.html
points
out
a
few problems.
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Free
Mapping/GIS
software
lists of software
GEO Community http://www.geocomm.com/
lists and reviews some free viewers, here
http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/features/viewers2002/
and here
http://software.geocomm.com/viewers/general/
Some of the viewers or programs can do basic mapping.
http://opensourcegis.org/
has gis and related software
http://freegis.org/
The FreeGIS Project provides
* software overview on free Geographic Information Systems (this web
site)
* communication on developments, plans, infos on free GIS software and
free Geo-Data (mailing list)
* software and data prepared for direct use (CD)
Software
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top
Accuglobe
http://www.accuglobe.net/
a
free
gis
program. I haven't tried it but it looks nice.
Apparently, Michigan is also using it, http://www.michigan.gov/documents/CGI_min0306_164943_7.pdf
listed here http://marysvillewa.gov/GIS/links.html
and http://gis1.oit.ohio.gov/OGRIPWeb/OhioGIS/2009/Abstract_950_track3.htm
Christine
gis
system http://www.christine-gis.com/en/index.htm
The
web
site
says
"Christine is a useful, easy-to-use tool that
brings geographic
information
to
your deskop." I don't know anything about it. The VIEWER is free but
the full program is shareware. The program is listed in the Gislounge
and other places:
NASA
Global
Change
directory
http://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/CHRISTINE_GIS.html
Diva-Gis http://www.diva-gis.org/
a
mapping
program.
The web site says this "is a free mapping program,
sometimes called
geographic information system (GIS), that can be used for many
different purposes."
Listed here
http://www.fws.gov/arsnew/print/print_report.cfm?arskey=21066
US
Fish
&
Wildlife Service - Journal Entry
http://ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=221326&pf=1
http://biology.usgs.gov/cbi/informatics/dss/cbidsstools.html
USGS
tools
epi info also can do maps.
http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/
The Google Map Creator http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/software/gmapcreator.asp
is a freeware application designed to make thematic
mapping using Google Maps simpler. The application takes a shapefile
containing geographic areas linked with attributes and automatically
generates a working Google Maps website from the data.
GRASS GIS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System)
http://grass.itc.it/index.php is
an
open
source,
Free
Software Geographical Information System (GIS) with
raster, topological vector, image processing, and graphics production
functionality that operates on various platforms through a graphical
user interface and shell in X-Window. It is released under GNU General
Public License (GPL).
Grass is listed here
Brief overview of Grass, Qgis, http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cz/2007/Coastal_Zone_07_Proceedings/PDFs/Monday_Abstracts/3468.Racicot.pdf
and here http://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/GRASS.html
gvSIG http://www.gvsig.gva.es/
"is
a
tool
oriented
to manage geographic information."
This program is listed here
http://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/gvSIG.html
JUMP http://www.jump-project.org/ The
foundation of The JUMP-Project is a suite of free, open-source
applications that provide an extensible API and graphic user interface
(GUI) for viewing and manipulating spatial data-sets.
MapWindows
http://www.mapwindow.org/
has
a
GIS
program along with a lot of other stuff. "The MapWindow
Interface is simple and easy to use as demostrated in this
Picture! The MapWindow application is a free, extensible,
geographic information system (GIS) that can be used: As an alternative
desktop GIS, To distribute data to others, To develop and distribute
custom spatial data analyses"
Map Maker Gratis is free http://www.mapmaker.com/
The
full
professional
version is available for free to not-for-profit
organizations, educational establishments, and students in Africa.
Public Health Mapping tools - improved data for action
http://www.who.int/health_mapping/tools/en/
includes
a
mapping
program, although I don't see how to get it.
Quantum GIS (QGIS) http://qgis.org/
"is
a
user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System
(GIS) that runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, and Windows. QGIS supports
vector, raster, and database formats."
Qgis is listed here http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/geodatacatalog/default.htm
Brief overview of Grass, Qgis, http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cz/2007/Coastal_Zone_07_Proceedings/PDFs/Monday_Abstracts/3468.Racicot.pdf
TNTlite http://www.microimages.com/tntlite/
According
to
the
authors, "TNTlite is a FREE geospatial
analysis
system providing a complete fully
featured GIS, RDBMS, and automated image processing system with CAD,
TIN, surface modeling, map layout and innovative data publishing tools.
All this capability is available in a single integrated system with an
identical interface, functionality, and geodata structure for use on
Mac OS X, Windows, Sun Solaris, and popular Linux platforms."
There are limits on the complexity of the project in this free version.
Can do simple projects but not complex.
TNTlite is listed here http://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/01-TNTlite-00.html
Other
software,
speadsheets,
databases,
graphics,
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Spreadsheets
SpreadCE http://www.byedesign.freeserve.co.uk/
works
on
multiple
systems including windows, pda's and other stuff.
Shareware, but not limited.
Object oriented spreadsheet http://www.abykus.com/
bunch of features different from regular spreadsheets.
Gnumeric http://projects.gnome.org/gnumeric/
free spreadsheet.
Gnumeric is mentioned here
http://heasarc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/version-history.html
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1215481
Some of the office suites listed on the page below also have
spreadsheets
http://fire.prohosting.com/pubinfo/freesoft.html
Databases
PostgreSQL http://www.postgresql.org/
highly-scalable,
SQL
compliant,
open source object-relational database
management system.
Firebird http://www.firebirdsql.org/
Another relational database.
This article here
from
2005
is
a review of mysql, postgre and firebird
This site http://www-css.fnal.gov/dsg/external/freeware/pgsql-vs-mysql.html
is
a
comparison
of PostgreSQL and MySQL.
This site has an intro video about databases http://www.databasejournal.com/video/
and
more
advanced
ones.
Graphics
Gnuplot http://www.gnuplot.info/
Need
programming
ability
to use this but supposed to produce
professional quality graphs. Still under development, see
here http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/
Recent
version
released
September 2007.
The gnuplot info site links to
tutorials. Some other tutorials are:
Intro and faq's on gnuplot http://t16web.lanl.gov/Kawano/gnuplot/index-e.html
How
to
use
it, do stuff with it, seems pretty extensive.
CTG - Gnuplot Tutorial http://www.challenge.nm.org/ctg/graphics/tutorial.shtml
brief,
one
page.
Ploticus http://ploticus.sourceforge.net/doc/welcome.html
"A
free,
GPL,
non-interactive software package for producing plots,
charts, and graphics from data."
EVE Embedded Vector Editor http://www.goosee.com/
graphics
program.
Recommended
by a colleague. I havent' tried
it,
but supposed to be very powerful and useful.
Dia http://live.gnome.org/Dia
"Dia
is
a
GTK+ based diagram creation program for Linux, Unix and
Windows ... Dia is roughly inspired by the commercial Windows program
'Visio', though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use."
Other
stuff,
doing
surveys
on the web, misc,
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Doing
Surveys
ResearchInfo.com http://www.researchinfo.com/docs/software/index.cfm
list
of
software
programs for designing, creating surveys, some
analysis.
Some are freeware, some limits, some no limits.
Questionnaire Programming Language http://qpl.gao.gov/
"QPL is
a complete web questionnaire development and content analysis system.
Using a simple language to describe your questionnaire, it
automatically builds all the files you need to create a dynamic web
site."
Misc including security, office
suites, browsers, software portals.
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top
There is lots of security, antivirus, antispyware, etc. For a
good listing of stuff, see here
http://fire.prohosting.com/pubinfo/secure.html
Free software like browsers, office suites, portals, etc
http://fire.prohosting.com/pubinfo/freesoft.html
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didn't work, 3/28, I'll check again
And see more manuals here
http://www.sph.emory.edu/~cdckms/ Windows version, updated
Feb 2007