Free statistical software: Difference between revisions

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==Brief history of free statistical software==

[[SAS (software)]] was among the first commercial statistical packages, released for mainframes in 1968.<ref name="stathistory">{{cite web |last1=The VSNi Team |title=Evolution of statistical computing |date=27 April 2021 |url=https://vsni.co.uk/blogs/evolution-of-statistical-computing |publisher=VNSi |access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> SAS has since then released versions free to use, the most recent of which is SAS Studio.<ref>{{cite web |title=SAS on demand for academics |url=https://www.sas.com/en_us/software/on-demand-for-academics.html |publisher=SAS |access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> [[Epi Info]] a free to use program from the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] was developed in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Epi Info™ Story |date=16 September 2021 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/story.html |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> One of the first completely free to use and open source statistical software was [[R (programming language)|R]], first released in 2000.<ref name="stathistory" />

Muenchen looks at trends in scholarly articles citing statistical software packages and shows that, while [[SPSS]] is clearly the lead, R has grown steadily and was, in 2016, the second most cited.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Muenchen |first1=Robert |title=The Popularity of Data Science Software |url=https://r4stats.com/articles/popularity/ |access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> He shows in a later review that, among the R point and click packages, [[R Commander]] and Rattle have been the most frequently downloaded over the past several years, with [[jamovi]] picking up in popularity in the most recent time periods.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Muenchen |first1=Robert |title=The Popularity of Point-and-Click GUIs for R |url=https://r4stats.com/articles/guipop/ |access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> Another article similarly found R moving up, in this case to third place, but also reported [[Epi Info]] consistently in the top 10 at three different time periods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Masuadi |display-authors=etal |title=Trends in the Usage of Statistical Software and Their Associated Study Designs in Health Sciences Research: A Bibliometric Analysis |journal=Cureus |date=January 2021 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=e12639 |doi=10.7759/cureus.12639 |pmid=33585125 |pmc=7872865 }}</ref>

Some of the free software packages are from governments, for example [[Epi Info]], which is from [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]]<ref name="epinfo">{{cite web |title=Epi Info |url=https://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/ |publisher=CDC |access-date=13 June 2022}}</ref> (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Some other software packages are from smaller or independent organizations or universities. [[JASP]] is supported by the [[University of Amsterdam]].<ref>{{cite web |title=JASP |url=https://jasp-stats.org}}</ref> Two other packages, [[R (programming language)|R]],<ref name=r>{{cite web|url= https://cran.r-project.org/|title= The R Project}}</ref> and [[PSPP]] are being developed as part of the [[GNU Project]] by a large group of individuals, many of them volunteers, all over the world. These packages are notable in that it is not just [[Open-source software|open source]] but also [[free software]] in the same sense that material written on Wikipedia is free: others can edit, use, and redistribute at will.

OpenStat was developed as a teaching aid.<ref name=openstat>{{cite web|url= http://www.statpages.org/miller/openstat/|title= OpenStat|author= Bill Miller|year= 2009|access-date= 2011-03-14|archive-date= 2011-03-19|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110319095100/http://www.statpages.org/miller/openstat/|url-status= dead}}</ref> Other packages were developed for specific purposes but can be more generally used. One example is Epi Info, developed for public health. Several of the packages, PSPP, R and Osiris don't appear to give any statements about why they were developed, other than just general use for statistical analysis.

These free software packages have been used in a number of scholarly publications. For example, OpenStat was used in a research letter to JAMA<ref>

{{cite journal|doi= 10.1001/jama.300.10.1131|journal= JAMA|title= Future Salary and US Residency Fill Rate Revisited|last1= Ebell|first1= Mark|date= 10 September 2008|volume=300|issue= 10|pages= 1131–1132|pmid= 18780840}}</ref> and in several published studies.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Toscano | first1 = Christopher D | last2 = Prabhu | first2 = Vinaykumar V | last3 = Langenbach | first3 = Robert | last4 = Becker | first4 = Kevin G | last5 = Bosetti | first5 = Francesca | year = 2007 | title = Differential gene expression patterns in cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 deficient mouse brain | journal = Genome Biol | volume = 8 | issue = 1| page = R14 | pmc=1839133 | pmid=17266762 | doi=10.1186/gb-2007-8-1-r14 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bielaszewska | first1 = M | last2 = Sinha | first2 = B | last3 = Kuczius | first3 = T | last4 = Karch | first4 = H | year = 2005 | title = Cytolethal Distending Toxin from Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli O157 Causes Irreversible G2/M Arrest, Inhibition of Proliferation, and Death of Human Endothelial Cells | url= | journal = Infection and Immunity | volume = 73 | issue = 1| pages = 552–562 | doi=10.1128/iai.73.1.552-562.2005 | pmid=15618195 | pmc=538959}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Toscano | first1 = C.D. | last2 = Kingsley | first2 = P.J. | last3 = Marnett | first3 = L.J. | last4 = Bosetti | first4 = F. | year = 2008 | title = NMDA-induced Seizure Intensity is Enhanced in COX-2 Deficient Mice | journal = Neurotoxicology | volume = 29 | issue = 6| pages = 1114–1120 | pmc=2587528 | doi=10.1016/j.neuro.2008.08.008 | pmid=18834901| bibcode = 2008NeuTx..29.1114T }}</ref> Irristat is used in an agricultural report,<ref>FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper No. 174, Rome, 2003, Genotype x environment interactions. Challenges and opportunities for plant breeding and cultivar recommendations, http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4391E/y4391e00.htm</ref> EasyReg is listed or used in several papers,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gambardella | first1 = A | last2 = Hall | first2 = Bronwyn H. | year = 2006 | title = Proprietary versus public ___domain licensing of software and research products" (2006) | url = http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/1865/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070609135926/http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/1865/ | url-status = live | archive-date = 2007-06-09 | journal = Research Policy | volume = 35 | issue = 6 | pages = 875–892 | doi = 10.1016/j.respol.2006.04.004 | s2cid = 14299896 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Liu | first1 = Wen-Chi | last2 = Chang | first2 = Tsangyao | year = 2008 | title = Rational Bubbles in the Korea Stock Market? Further Evidence based on Nonlinear and Nonparametric Cointegration Tests | url = http://economicsbulletin.vanderbilt.edu/2008/volume3/EB-08C30021A.pdf | journal = Economics Bulletin | volume = 3 | issue = 34 | pages = 1–12 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>

Harumi Itoa and Darin Lee, Journal of Economics and Business, Volume 57, Issue 1, January–February 2005, Pages 75-95. Assessing the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on U.S. airline demand. doi 10.1016/j.jeconbus.2004.06.003. Also available here httphttps://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Papers/Papers/2003/2003-16_paper.pdf</ref> EpiInfo was also used in several papers,<ref>

Rahav G, Gabbay R, Ornoy A, Shechtman S, Arnon J, Diav-Citrini O. Primary versus nonprimary cytomegalovirus infection during pregnancy, Israel. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2007 Nov [May 15, 2009]. Available from https://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/13/11/1791.htm</ref><ref>

Chan P-C, Huang L-M, Wu Y-C, Yang H-L, Chang I-S, Lu C-Y, et al. Tuberculosis in children and adolescents, Taiwan, 1996–2003. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2007 Sep. Available from https://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/13/9/1361.htm</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gyasi | first1 = ME | last2 = Amoaku | first2 = WMK | last3 = Adjuik | first3 = MA | date = December 2007 | title = Epidemiology of Hospitalized Ocular Injuries in the Upper East Region of Ghana | journal = Ghana Med J. | volume = 41 | issue = 4| pages = 171–175 | pmc=2350113 | pmid=18464900}}</ref> R was used in a number of papers<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Handcock | first1 = Mark S. | last2 = Hunter | first2 = David R. | last3 = Butts | first3 = Carter T. | last4 = Goodreau | first4 = Steven M. | last5 = Morris | first5 = Martina | year = 2008 | title = statnet: Software Tools for the Representation, Visualization, Analysis and Simulation of Network Data | journal = J Stat Softw | volume = 24 | issue = 1| pages = 1548–7660 | pmc=2447931 | pmid=18618019| doi = 10.18637/jss.v024.i01 | doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hume | first1 = Michael E. | last2 = Scanlan | first2 = Charles M. | last3 = Harvey | first3 = Roger B. | last4 = Andrews | first4 = Kathleen | last5 = Snodgrass | first5 = James D. | last6 = Nalian | first6 = Armen G. | last7 = Martynova-Van Kley | first7 = Alexandra | last8 = Nisbet | first8 = David J. | year = 2008 | title = Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis as a Tool To Determine Batch Similarity of Probiotic Cultures of Porcine Cecal Bacteria | url= | journal = Applied and Environmental Microbiology | volume = 74 | issue = 16| pages = 5241–5243 | doi=10.1128/aem.02580-07 | pmid=18586972 | pmc=2519268| bibcode = 2008ApEnM..74.5241H }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bylesjö | first1 = Max | last2 = Nicholson | first2 = Jeremy K | last3 = Holmes | first3 = Elaine | last4 = Trygg | first4 = Johan | year = 2008| title = K-OPLS package: Kernel-based orthogonal projections to latent structures for prediction and interpretation in feature space | journal = BMC Bioinformatics | volume = 9| page = 106 | doi = 10.1186/1471-2105-9-106 | pmid=18284666 | pmc=2323673 | doi-access = free }}</ref> and WinIdams was used in other papers.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sapre | first1 = N. S. | last2 = Pancholi | first2 = N. | last3 = Gupta | first3 = S. | year = 2008 | title = Computational Modeling of Substitution Effect on HIV–1 Non–Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors with Kier–Hall Electrotopological State (E–state) Indices, Internet Electron | url = http://www.biochempress.com/cv07_i03.html | journal = Internet Electronic Journal of Molecular Design | volume = 7 | pages = 55–67 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Chawla | first1 = Anju | year = 2007| title = Exploring project selection behavior of academic scientists in India | journal = Research Evaluation | volume = 16 | issue = 1| pages = 35–45 | doi=10.3152/095820207x196768}}</ref>

While Microsiris doesn't appear to be used in academic research, the author of the program was one of the original authors of OSIRIS,<ref>Data Sharing for Demographic Research Knowledge Base, question on OSIRIS, University of Michigan, http://dsdr-kb.psc.isr.umich.edu/answer.html?i=1076 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720090824/http://dsdr-kb.psc.isr.umich.edu/answer.html?i=1076 |date=2011-07-20 }}</ref> which was the starting program from which WinIdams was developed.<ref name=micwin>IDAMS, Internationally Developed Data Analysis and Management Software Package. WinIDAMS Reference Manual (release 1.3) UNESCO, 2008. Preface. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=25081&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=-465.html</ref> The author of Microsiris also has contributed or co-contributed several components to WinIdams.<ref name=micwin/>

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===Menu driven packages===

Many of the packages have some kind of opening menu that is used to get or enter the data, manipulate the data, and select the statistical analysis. Then after starting the program, generally data can be obtained, either from previously saved data sets, or importing from some other format. From this menu, data files in various formats can be imported. For example, if the data is in CSV form (text with commas between values), the program recognizes the format and creates a data set from the CSV file. Finally, the program can be used to do some analysis. In this analysis menu, the variables of interest can be selected, along with other options. Then the analysis is run and results are obtained.

===Statistics online===

Test statskingdom Free calculators<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.statskingdom.com/index.html | title=Statistics online - checks assumptions, interprets results }}</ref>

===Command driven packages===

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==See also==

*[[Comparison of statistical packages]]

*[[List of statistical software]]

*''[[Journal of Statistical Software]]''