STAT582 HW7

Review of Two Statistical Software Packages Minitab and SPSS Yan Sun

As a statistician, have you ever got stuck in front of your computer, trying to figure out the correct syntax of a command to type into the little programming window, and just could not get it right? At that moment, I am sure you would wish there was some magic easy button that you could just click and then things would work the way they should. Well, magic does not happen everyday. owever, some better choices can make life easier. Instead of using programmed command lines, some statistical software make their usage much easier by using a menu!driven interface. "his kind of software are like well!organi#ed control panels. $ach of the things you need to do is controlled by a button somewhere on the panel. %nce you get familiar with the layout of the panel, the actual work should be &uite an enjoyable process. 'everal good menu!interface statistical software are available. Among them, (initab and ')'' are the most widely used ones. "his report serves as an introduction to these two software packages. *or each of them, the software+s specialties, advantages, and suitability will be discussed. 'ome important functionalities, their implementations, and programming in the two software will be introduced. "his report also includes ,helpful resources+, which I personally found very helpful in learning and using the two software.

1. Minitab History (initab was originally developed by -arbara *. .yan, "homas A. .yan, /r., and -rian 0. /oiner at )ennsylvania 'tate 1niversity in 2345. 6owadays, it is a commercial product distributed by the (initab Inc. "he latest version of this software is (initab27, which was released in 5889 :2;. "his report is based on this latest version. Specialties and advantages <omparing to other statistical software, (initab has several very attractive advantages= :2; $asy to learn and easy to use. >ou do not need to memori#e complicated programming languages to work with (initab. All regular statistical functionalities can be performed in (initab by one or several clicks in the pull!down menu. -esides, the menu is organi#ed in a very intuitive way, such that it is not a hard thing to remember where to find what. All these features make (initab very accessible to first!time

learners. (any statistics educators in higher education institutions prefer (initab as the major software in teaching intermediate or some advanced level statistics courses :5;. :5; ?uality control functionalities. 0arge amount of statistical functionalities can be performed in (initab, ranging from simple basic statistics to much more complicated multivariate analysis. owever, what makes (initab stand out among many statistical software is its strength in statistical &uality control. (initab is e&uipped with almost all of the widely!used tools for process control, including analy#ing methods, graphics, designs of experiments, etc. In fact, (initab is the leading software package used by &uality improvement professionals in all kinds of industries around the world. -ased on the (initab Inc. website :@;, their clients include A$, "%' I-A, -ank of America, 'A('16A, etc. -esides, (initab has two other complementary software packages B ?uality "rainer and ?uality <ompanion ! to further enhance its strength in &uality improvement. :@; 6icer graphing output. (ost (initab users are impressed by the variety and &uality of the graphs generated by the software. (initab can produce many kinds of statistical graphs, and they are very easy to be edited and customi#ed. "he &uality of the graphs is superior than that of many other software :see figure 5 for an example;. Suitability In the area of the most sophisticated statistical computation, (initab is not as powerful as software packages such as '"A"A and .. 'o for academic research that involves intense and very complicated statistical computation and analysis, (initab might not be the right choice. owever, for most of the works in education, research, business, and industrial process control, which re&uire intermediate or some advanced statistical analysis, (initab is usually fully capable of meeting users+ needs. unctionalities "he next part of the report will focus on some of the major functionalities in (initab and their implementations. !1" #ata i$portation and general data $anipulation . (initab stores data in the format of ,worksheet+. "o create a data worksheet, you can type in data directly, or import existing data into worksheet :*ileC%pen;. Data in ,text+ and ,$xcel+ formats can be imported directly into (initab worksheet. <onveniently, if you check the ,merge+ option when you import a dataset into an existing data worksheet, the new data will be put side by side with the old data to create a merged dataset :figure 2a;. Data in (initab worksheet are very easy to edit and manipulate. Deleting rowsEcolumns can easily be done by selecting the whole rowsEcolumns, right clicking the mouse and choosing ,delete cells+F (issing values can be filled in directlyF %ne can transpose columns and rows of the dataset by clicking ,DataC"ransposing columns+. Due to the fact that (initab has a menu!driven interface, you do not need to write codes to edit data. (ost of the data manipulating functionalities are in the ,data+ pull!down menu.

!%" Si$ple statistics and testing. (ost of the statistical functionalities are in the ,stat+ pull!down menu. *or instance, in the ,stat+ menu, the ,basic statistics+ sub!menu contains ,Display descriptive statistics+, ,2!sample # test+, ,5!sample t test+, etcF "he ,tables+ sub!menu contains chi!s&uare testF In the ,power and sample si#e+ sub!menu, one can easily calculate sample si#e or power. During the calculation and testing process, one can specify parameters by choosing different options in dialog boxes. *igure 2b shows the options in ,descriptive statistics+ one can choose to analy#e hisEher data. a. b.

igure 1a. old and new data can be merged together by checking the ,merge+ option in the ,open worksheet+ window. 1b. %ptions of descriptive statistics in (initab. !&" Statistical analysis using different $odels. (initab can analy#e data using different models. 1nder the ,'tat+ menu, different methodology can be chosen to analy#e your data, including ,.egression+, ,A6%GA+, ,(ultivariate+, ,"ime series+, etc. After the method is selected, you can specify the model you want to use by further selecting the options in dialog boxes. *or instance, if you want to use a general linear model that involves random effect, you can click ,'tatCA6%GACAeneral linear model+ and specify the response, your model, and the random effect, in the dialog box, and then (initab will do the analysis according to your specifications. A lot more types of statistical analysis can be done in (initab, including response surface analysis for continuous!categorical variable combined data :'tatCD%$C.esponse surface;, and nested A6%GA analysis for data that fit a nested variable model :'tatCA6%GAC*ully nested A6%GA;. "he 'tatAuide build!in manual in (initab contains very detailed information, which can help you choose appropriate method for your data and interpret the analysis results. !'" (rap)ics. (initab contains a large variety of graphing functionalities. In here, you can generate histogram, ??!plot, residual plot, and a lot more. *igure 5 includes ??! plot, residual plot, histogram and ordered!data plot generated in (initab based on the ,diesel data+ we used in class :H;. "hey were produced by checking the ,graphs+ option
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when regression analysis was performed :'tatC.egression;. "he plots can be generated in separate windows or arranged nicely in one window depending on your choice :,individual plots+ vs ,*our in one+;. "he graphs can easily be edited by right clicking on the items in the graph you want to change and selecting the appropriate options, such as ,edit title+, ,edit symbols+, ,copy graph+, etc. (ost of the graphing functionalities are either incorporated in the statistical analysis procedure :'tat; as options or gathered under the pull!down menu of ,Araph+.
plots for disel data
-or$al Probability Plot
33 38 Residual Percent 78 28 2 !8.I !8.@ 8.8 Residual 8.@ 8.I 8.8 8.7

residual plot

!8.7 8.4 8.9 8.3 2.8 it t ed *alue 2.2

Histogra$
8.7 9 re+uency I H 5 8 !8.I !8.H !8.5 8.8 Residual 8.5 8.H Residual 8.8

ordered.data plot

!8.7 2 7 28 27 58 57 @8 @7 ,bservat ion ,rder H8 H7

igure %. Araphs generated based on ,diesel+ data. Progra$$ing in Minitab While (ost of the statistical functions are accessible through menus in (initab, they can also be performed through programming. "he language used to program in (initab is called ,session command+. In the ,session+ window, once the command prompt is activated :,("-C+ shows up in the window; by ,$ditorC$nable commands+, you can directly type in your commands and make the software perform the procedures. "he following (initab output results from the command= ("- C regress JignitionJ 2 JalcoholJ, based on the ,diesel+ data=
The regression equation is ignition = 0.737 + 0.00486 alcohol Predictor Constant alcohol Coef 0.737 0 0.004863 #$Sq = SE Coef 0.064!" 0.00!4 ! 0.6% T !!.4" 3.4 P 0.000 0.00!

S = 0. 47874

#$Sq&ad'( = !8."%

%ne can also use subcommand to specify how the command needs to be carried out. If your work involves running the same program repeatedly, you can save the series of (initab commands as ,$xecs+, so that you can re!run the program in the future. "he
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(initab build!in help manual contains detailed instructions on the syntax for almost all of the session commands and how to use ,$xecs+ and other more complicated micros. "he link in :7; is also a good source for &uick reference. Helpful resources (initab is well known for its user friendliness. "he reason for this is not only its straight forward menu!interface, but also its excellent help facilities and resources. "he followings are some of the resources that I feel very helpful in learning and using this software= :2; ,(eet (initab27+ :I; ! the first thing that you should read to learn about (initab. "his 2H5!page )D* file is practically the beginner+s guide to the most commonly used features in (initab. "he book is very well written with examples and snap shots of computer screens, such that it is &uite fun to read. A good way to read this book is to have the (initab software open in your computer at the same time. "hat way you can practice while you go through the book. ,(eet (initab27+ can be downloaded from the (initab website :I;. :5; (initab build!in electronic manuals B "he build!in manuals in (initab is one of the best among those of all statistical software packages. If you got &uestions while using (initab, most of the time, you can find your answers here. I personally found two manuals are extremely helpful ! the , elp+ manual that helps you use the software, and the ,'tatAuide+ manual that helps you understand the analysis results. %ther build!in manuals include ,"utorial+, ,(ethods and *ormulas+, etc, which should also be very useful. :@; "here are all sorts of websites where you can find helpful information regarding your specific needs in (initab. (ost of the time, you can find them by a simple google search. Reference All information from web links are present at the time when this report is written :April, 5828; :2; http=EEen.wikipedia.orgEwikiE(initab :5; 1sing (initab for teaching statistics in higher education. /ohn $ales and /ulian 'tander. ('%. <onnections. Gol 3 6o @. :@; www.minitab.com :H; http=EEwww.stat.purdue.eduEKjenningsEstat795EdatasetsEindex.html :7; http=EEwww.austincc.eduEmparkerE2@H5EtfEmmEAppendix.pdf

:I; http=EEwww.minitab.comEen!1'EproductsEminitabEdocumentation.aspx? lang"ypeL28@@ %. SPSS /ntroduction ')'' software was developed by 6orman . 6ie and <. adlai ull at 'tanford 1niversity. When it was first released in 23I9, the package was mainly focused on academic research, and ,')''+ stands for ,'tatistical )ackage for the 'ocial 'ciences+. "oday, ')'' is one of the most widely used statistical software in the world. It is used by survey companies, market researchers, health researchers, education researchers, government, and others :2;. -ased on the ')'' Inc. website, the software now has customers including all 78 1.'. state governments, 288M of the top 1.'. universities, 55 top global commercial banks, 29 top property and casualty insurance companies in the 1.'., and 25 top global pharmaceutical companies :5;. ')'' has evolved from its academia origin to a leading analytical tool for enterprises around the world. As a modular software, ')'' has a ,base+ system module, where you can perform most of the regular data management and statistical analysis functionalities such as descriptive statistics, commonly used tests, linear regression, A6%GA, etc. owever, to perform more sophisticated functionalities, such as multivariate A0(, logistic regression, you need ')'' add!on modules. "he link in :@; has a good summary on the ')'' base and its add!on modules regarding the specific statistical procedures they perform. Specialties and advantages :2; $asy to learn and easy to use. Due to the fact that ')'' is menu!driven, the software is very easy to use. 0ike (initab, most of the functionalities in ')'' are organi#ed into pull!down menus in a very intuitive way. -ased on my own experience, the learning curves for ')'' and (initab are similar. In fact, research has been done to compare user satisfactions between ')'' and (initab among college students, and no significant difference was found :H;. :5; 'trength in data management. %ne of the major advantages that make ')'' uni&ue and succeed in social science is its user!friendly setting for data management. 0arge amount of data can be handled in ')''F 'pecifying or changing data attributes can be done by just several clicksF Gariables and values can be easily labeled for future reference. "he data management functionalities in ')'' will be further explored in later part of this report. Suitability <omparing to (initab, I will say ')'' is generally stronger in statistical analysis, especially in some specific area, such as A6%GA!related procedures. "he add!on modules give ')'' further flexibility and potentials to develop its capacities. owever,
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for cutting!edge statistical analysis, ')'' is still not as strong a candidate as '"A"A and .. 'o ')'' is most suitable to you if your work involves large dataset, fre&uent data management, and intermediateEpartially!advanced statistical analysis :7;. unctionalities !1" #ata i$portation and general data $anipulation. ')'' data files look very much like the spreadsheet in $xcel or the worksheet in (initab. "he files usually have the extension of ,.sav+ and are presented in the ,Data editor+ window. ')'' can import dataset of almost all kinds of formats, including spreadsheet :e.g. $xcel;, Database :e.g. Access;, and "ext. $xcel file can be imported directly using the menu :*ileC%penCData;, while Database and "ext files can be brought in through importing wi#ards. ')'' makes it very easy to manipulate data. "here are two types of views for each data editor window. In the ,data view+, you can edit your dataset by filling in missing values, deleting rowsEcolumns, transposing dataset :DataC"ranspose;, etc. In the ,variable view+, the attributes of each variable are listed and you can edit them directly. *or instance, you can specify the labels for the variables or the labels for their values, so that later in the ,data view+ you can see what the variables are and what their values of ,8+ or ,2+ mean. >ou can also change variable name, variable type, decimals of the variable values in the ,variable view+. (ost data manipulation functionalities are collected in the ,Data+ menu and the ,"ransform+ menu. *or instance, you can transform any variable in your dataset by clicking ,"ransformC<ompute variable+ and specify the transforming functions. *or more information regarding data management, please refer to the ')'' user+s guide or the build!in help manual. !%" Si$ple statistics and testing. (ost of the simple statistical functionalities and testing procedures can be found in the ,Analy#e+ pull!down menu. *or instance, descriptive statistics, such as ,mean+ and ,variance+ of the data, can be calculated through ,Analy#eCDescriptive 'tatisticsCDescriptive+. *or a chi!s&uar test to examine association, you can find the functionality in ,Analy#eCDescriptive 'tatisticsC<rosstabs+. !&" Statistical analysis using different $odels. ')'' can analy#e data using linear regression model or non!linear regression model :>ou need the ,regression+ add!on module to perform non!linear regression;. "hese functionalities are in ,Analy#eC.egressionC0inear+ and ,Analy#eC.egressionC6onlinear+ menus. *or instance, to build a linear regression model, you can specify the dependent variable and the independent variable:s; in the ,linear regression+ dialog box. >ou can also specify the model selection method :forward, backward, stepwise, etc.; and the W0' weight in the box. -y doing so, the criteria for modeling are set and ')'' will return the modeling results including the parameter estimates and their significance.

If you want to perform A6%GA analysis for categorical data, select through ,Analy#eCAeneral 0inear (odelC1nivariate+, where you can specify ,dependent variable+, ,fixed factors+, ,interactions+ and etc. >ou can also customi#e your model by directly typing it into the dialog box. %ther more complicated models can also be used for analy#ing data in ')''. *or instance, a random effect model can be applied to data analysis by ,Analy#eC(ixed modelsC0inear+ menu. In the dialog box, one can specify the variables of random effect subject and of the repeated measurement to build the model. 'ome sophisticated models are not covered by menus and you have to run commands to do the analysis. *or instance, to build a nested A6%GA model, you can first generate the model using menus and specify all criteria you want, except the ,nested variable+. "hen you click ,paste+, so that the procedure you just performed using menus will appear in the syntax window as commands. 6ow you can specify the nested variable in the ,Edesign+ subcommand. After that you can run the composed program to generate the nested A6%GA model. !'" (rap)ics. ')'' can generate a large variety of graphs for data exploration and result presentation. *or example, if you want to explore whether a group of values are normally distributed, you can generate a ??!plot for those values. *igure @a shows a ??!plot based on the values of the ,ignition delay+ variable in the ,diesel+ data. It was generated through ,Analy#eCDescriptive statisticsC?? plots+ menu. 'ome graphing functionalities are incorporated in analysis procedures. *or instance, in the process of linear regression using ,alcohol+ as independent variable and ,ignition delay+ as dependent variable, one can ask ')'' to produce graphs for testing normality assumption by selecting the corresponding options in the dialog box. *igure @b shows the histogram of residuals resulting from the regression. a. b.

igure &a. ??!plot for the ,ignition delay+ variable in the ,diesel+ data. &b. istogram for assumption testing based on the ,diesel+ data. It is easy to edit graphs in ')''. -y double clicking the graphs in the ,statistics viewer+ window, a separate window called ,chart editor+ will appear. In ,chart editor+, you can perform all kinds of modifications to your graphs, including changing text and color, adding footnote and data label, etc. Progra$$ing in SPSS ')'' can also run under programmed commands. In fact, although most of the functionalities driven by ')'' commands are also accessible through pull!down menus, some procedures and options can only be performed under commands. "he advantage of using commands is that you can save the program and re!run it in the future. ')'' commands are written and edited in a separate window called ,syntax editor+. As an example, let+s perform linear regression of ,ignition delay+ in response to ,alcohol+, as we did using (initab in part 2 of this report. %pen the syntax editor window by selecting through ,*ileC6ewC'yntax+ and we type in the following commands=
.egression Edependent ignition EmethodLenter alcohol

In this syntax, ,regression+ is the command, followed by two subcommands :initiated with a ,E+;. "he response variable is specified after ,dependent+, and the predicting variable is specified after ,methodLenter+. "he following is part of the ')'' output in response to the commands=
0oefficientsa 'tandardi#ed 1nstandardi#ed <oefficients (odel 2 :<onstant; alcohol :mass M; a. Dependent Gariable= ignition delay :<ao; .4@4 .887 'td. $rror .8IH .882 .H7H <oefficients -eta t 22.H97 @.H55 'ig. .888 .882

"he parameter estimates and their significance levels :in red; we get here are the same as what we got in the (initab report. Another great feature in ')'' command is its auto!completion control. After a command, type in a subcommand indicator ,E+, and then press ,<ontrolN'pacebar+, the

options for subcommand will show up for you to choose :figure H;. "his feature is very helpful when you are unsure about the syntax of the functionality you want to perform.

igure '. "he auto!completion feature in ')'' programming. Helpful Resources :2; ')'' 'tatistics -ase 24.8 1sers Auide :I;. "his is the guide that I started with in learning ')''. I found it very helpful because it introduced me to the most commonly used procedures in the software. "he guide has two versions B a long and detailed one and a brief one. (y suggestion is to start with the brief one, just to get a taste of what this software is like. "hen later you can look into the detailed guide for more specifics. :5; ')'' build!in help manual. *or help on specific &uestions or problems while you work with ')'', the build!in electronic manual is very handy. In the , elp+ menu, the ,topics+ submenu covers most of the procedures in the software regarding their functions and implementations. "he ,"utorial+ submenu illustrates how you can use the basic features. "he ,'tatistics <oach+ submenu asks what you want to do and helps you choose the most appropriate procedure that meets your specific needs. :@; %nline resources= O comp.soft!sys.stat.spss newsgroup= :http=EEgroups.google.comEgroupEcomp.soft! sys.stat.spssEtopics?gvcL5;. An active google group where people ask and answer &uestions about specific problems while using ')''. O .aynald+s ')'' "ools= :http=EEwww.spsstools.netE; a very resourceful website set up by .aynald 0eves&ue, the author of ,')'' )rogramming and Data (anagement+ published by ')'' :4;. "he website obviously needs to be updated since some of the links do not work anymore. owever, the available information is still in large amount. "his website is especially helpful if you are interested in programming in ')''. O 1<0A Academic "echnology 'ervices= :http=EEwww.ats.ucla.eduEstatEspssE;. Areat website for ')'' learners with many data analysis examples. Reference All information from web links is present at the time when this report is written :April, 5828;.
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:2; http=EEen.wikipedia.orgEwikiE')'' :5; http=EEwww.spss.comEsuccessE :@; http=EEfaculty.chass.ncsu.eduEgarsonE)A4I7Espssmodules.htm :H; An empirical comparison of student user!satisfaction between ')'' and (initab. (. *einberg and /. 'iekpe. <ollege 'tudent /ournal, Dec, 588@. :7; 'A', 'tata, ')''= A <omparison. A<. Acock. /ournal of (arriage and *amily, 5887. I4 :H;, 283@!2837. :I;http=EEsupport.spss.comE)roducts$xtE')''EDocumentationE')''forWindowsEindex.h tml :4; http=EEwww.spss.comEsitesEdm!bookE

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