Statistical tools

are software applications to examine an observable phenomena using statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques. These are used also in mixed or multi methods studies for validating instruments, analysing patterns, supporting interpretation and providing evidence for research findings. Statistical tools and methods help researchers to provide meaning to the meaningless numbers.

Tools

• G-Power is a tool to compute statistical power analyses for many different t tests, F tests, χ2 tests, z tests and some exact tests

• ANOVA - Analysis of variance uses the same conceptual framework as linear regression

• SPSS - Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, is a software package used for interactive or batched, statistical analysis.

• CHIC - Cohesive Hierarchical Implicative Classification is a data analysis tool based on SIA (Statistical implicative analysis). Its aim is to discover the more relevant implications between states of different variables.

References

Basic statistical tools in research and data analysis

General Statistical Resources

• Statpages: Web pages that perform statistical calculations statpages.info Great general reference with lots of interactive pages. Links to online statistical pages. Worth browsing the intro page to see all the available resources.

• Reading Statistics and Research www.readingstats.com Companion website for the book: Huck SW. Reading Statistics and Research 6th edition. Boston: Pearsons, 2012: The website has lots of quizzes and resources to work through. The "Misconceptions" section is good to help solidify key concepts.

• Open Epi: Open Source Epidemologic Statistics for Public Health www.openepi.com Tool bar makes this easy navigate. Has sample size calculator as well as many other resources.

• Rice University Virtual Lab in Statistics onlinestatbook.com/rvls.html

• Hyperstat: statistics "book" with links to other stat sites; simulations and demonstrations: lots of visuals to explain concepts; case studies with some medical examples; and analysis lab demonstrates how to work with data.

• Statistics to use www.physics.csbsju.edu/stats Covers common statistical tests and concepts. Good graphics to illustrate points.

• Simple Interactive Statistical Analysis www.quantitativeskills.com/sisa Allows you to conduct statistical analysis directly in the program. Good to give you a feel for how the different statistical tests work.

• CDC: Epi Info Home Page www.cdc.gov/EpiInfo Free downloadable software for handling data sets, conducting surveys. Has sample size calculator as well.

• Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics plus search any stats term you are looking up

Resources for finding statistics on diseases and demographics

• CDC: Data and Statistics www.cdc.gov/DataStatistics Links to scientific data on statistics and scientific laboratory data.

• National Center for Health Statistics www.cdc.gov/nchs Provides national health, morbidity, and mortality statistics and offers free access to specific data warehouses.