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Statistical Software: Overview

Resources for learning statistical software.

Get help with statistical software

Do you have specific questions about statistics, research methods, or software?

Make an appointment with a consultant at Harvard. 

Consultations are free for MIT affiliates.

Attend a Summer Statistics Program

Geospatial Data Librarian & Statistics Specialist

Statistical software workshops

Statistical Software at MIT

All statistical software below can perform common statistical tests and save commands to and run commands from a syntax file.

Software Strengths Weaknesses Interface MIT Access
R
  • free and open-source
  • variety of add-on packages available for all types of analysis
  • steep learning curve
  • quality of packages varies
  • no standard help resources
 command line Athena or free download
SAS
  • powerful data management
  • works well with multiple, large, complex datasets
  • high quality graphics
  • excels at ANOVA, mixed models, & multivariate analysis
  • excellent help resources
  • steep learning curve
  • difficult to find errors in commands
 command line Athena (This is the UNIX version, which can be difficult to use)
Stata
  • easy to use
  • can handle complex analysis and data management
  • high quality graphics
  • excels as regression, robust methods, survey data, public health data
  • fewer options for personalized programming
 GUI, command line Athena, GIS lab computers, purchase through IS&T
SPSS
  • very easy to use
  • high quality graphics
  • excels at ANOVA, multivariate analysis, survey data
  • complex or large datasets
  • more limited data management tools
  • fewer options for personalized programming
 GUI free for faculty and staff through IS&T
JMP
  • very easy to use
  • excels at data exploration, research design, and visualization
  • complex or large datasets
  • limited data management tools
  • fewer options for personalized programming
 GUI free for teaching and research through IS&T

Overview of Statistical Software Workshop (January 2015)

Description: Do you need to analyze data, but are not sure which program to use? Have you been using one statistical software package for a while and are curious about others? We will learn the strengths and weaknesses of some statistical software programs, see a brief demo of each, and learn how to access them at MIT.

Materials from other workshops can be found here.

Subjects: Social Sciences