Welcome to your StatView® 4.0 demonstration. After you use this program, we are sure that you will find that StatView 4.0 is by far the most versatile and easy-to-use, data analysis and presentation package available on any computer.
This document explains how to use StatView 4.0 demonstration software. Its purpose is to show how quickly and easily you can create datasets, perform statistical analyses, generate graphs and create presentations. This version of StatView 4.0 is a fully functional version of StatView with the following limitations:
• You cannot save datasets you create
• You can only save view documents in StatView 4.x view format. You cannot save them as Text or PICT files.
• Datasets you create are limited to 25 rows and 25 columns (NOTE: the retail version of StatView 4.0 can create datasets with up to 32,765 columns and over 2 billion rows)
• You cannot print a document
• You cannot paste from the StatView 4.0 clipboard into either the scrapbook or another application
• You can only open StatView 4.x format datasets (NOTE: the retail version of StatView 4.0 can also open StatView II, StatView SE+Graphics and SuperANOVA format datasets)
• Imported text files are limited to 25 rows and 25 columns (NOTE: the retail version of StatView 4.0 can create import data with up to 32,765 columns and over 2 billion rows)
• Only a few templates are included with this demo version. The full retail version ships with over 40 analysis and graph templates pre-made.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call Abacus Concepts Technical Support at (510) 540-1949. You can also fax us at (510) 540-0260.
If you know of other people who would like to see first-hand how our software performs, you may copy your demonstration version of StatView 4.0 and this document for them. The StatView 4.0 demonstration program and this document are not in the public domain. However, we allow you to copy them for non-commercial use.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
To use StatView you need a Macintosh with the following:
• a minimum of 2 megabytes of main memory (RAM)
• Macintosh Operating System version 6.0.4 or later
• a hard disk
If you are running MultiFinder or Apple System 7, you may need additional main memory depending on your system settings. StatView is completely compatible with MultiFinder and System 7.
The StatView demo software contain two versions of the program: one which requires a floating-point math coprocessor (FPU) and one which is designed to run without the FPU. The installation software determines which type of machine you have and installs the correct version for your Macintosh. You may also customize the installation to install a specific version.
2. StatView Highlights
StatView is the first software package that offers in a single application all the tools that scientists and researchers need to analyze and present their data. In the past, you first entered data into a spreadsheet program where you performed transformations or mathematical manipulations; the transformed data was then imported into a second application for statistical analysis; a third program was used to create graphs; and finally a drawing program was required to prepare tables and graphs for presentation. Each of these transfers added time to your project, introduced the possibility of error, and forced you to learn separate applications. By allowing you to perform all these tasks inside one application, StatView can significantly decrease the time you spend on data analysis and presentation.
Unlike some integrated software, StatView is not four applications roughly spliced together. There are no modules that you have to move between in order to use the program. StatView is a seamlessly integrated data analysis environment, designed so that all its features are at your fingertips at all times. And StatView’s innovative templates offer a graphical way to record the steps you use to analyze and present data so you do not have to repeat steps as you do your work.
The sections below offer an introduction to many of StatView’s features.
SPREADSHEET-LIKE DATA MANAGEMENT
StatView’s data management give you full control over your data. Data is stored in a column/row format, like a spreadsheet. You have many options for customizing the appearance of the dataset: font, size, number of decimal places, etc. The dataset offers a wide variety of data types including real, integer, date/time, string, currencies, and more. And the variable attribute pane allows you to view descriptive statistics for all your variables at any time and change the type and format of any column with a single click of the mouse.
StatView’s formula generator contains over 150 functions which can be used to create new variables using simple or complex mathematical, statistical, Boolean, and other expressions. If your original data columns change, formula-generated columns change accordingly. The formula generator also generates numerous series, distributions, and random numbers. You can also easily explore your data by restricting an analyses to any user-defined subset of a dataset using the Criteria feature.
FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE GRAPHS AND TABLES
Graphs offered by the program include interaction bar, line, and point charts, pie charts, univariate and bivariate scattergrams and line charts, frequency distribution histograms, percentile plots, regression plots, box plots and more. You can add error bars to your graphs, using any error type you wish. Simple and polynomial regression lines and equations can be added to scattergrams.
Every component of a graph is individually customizable, including the font and size of axis labels, point type, size, and color, bar or pie slice fills and color, the location and size of tick marks, graph frame style, and axis bounds. The exact dimensions of each graph can be specified to meet the requirements of any journal or report format. StatView also offers ten table formats and allows you to create your own table format as well.
A COMPLETE DRAWING ENVIRONMENT
All output appears in our view window which has all the features of a drawing document and can cover as many pages as you wish. You can move drawn objects, text, graphs and tables to anywhere in this document. You can align objects to a grid or use rulers to precisely position your output. You can group objects together and position them in different layers.
The Draw menu offers sophisticated tools for adding embellishments to your output, such as arrows, rectangles, lines, splines, and more. You have complete control over color. Text of any font, size, or style can be added anywhere in the view.
BROAD-BASED STATISTICS
Of course, StatView offers a comprehensive range of statistical analyses. From basic descriptive statistics to ANOVA and factor analysis, to a wide range of nonparametric tests. Each statistic offers you many options for specifying to exact detail the parameters of your analysis. And best of all there are no intimidating commands you have to learn to use a statistic. StatView’s expertly designed dialog boxes allow you to quickly and easily choose your statistical tests. This statistical breadth and ease of use has made StatView the most popular statistics package on the Macintosh.
REDUCE YOUR DATA ANALYSIS TIME
StatView contains additional features designed to minimize the time that you spend on the repetitive aspects of data analysis and presentation.
TEMPLATES
Templates are similar to batch programs or spreadsheet macros. They store complex series of instructions, which the program executes all at once in response to a single command. Unlike macros or batch programs however, templates are incredibly easy to create using StatView’s graphic interface. Templates retain every detail of an analysis, from the null hypothesis to the size of the tick marks on a graph. All these details are reproduced when you use a template to analyze new data.
There are many ways to use templates to streamline your work. A supervisor or statistical consultant may set up a template tailored to a particular task. The work is done only once. After that, anyone can use the template - simply by specifying a new dataset and variables. Templates can also be used to speed the production of reports or journal articles that must meet standard requirements for figure size and appearance, font size and type, etc.
To use a template, you simply select it from the Analyze menu. All your specifications are reproduced with one click of the mouse. In addition, if you do not want to create your own templates, StatView comes with many ready-made templates which generate a wide variety of analyses and graphs.
ACTION OBJECTS
All results, both tables and graphs, generated by StatView are action objects. This means they retain information about the steps that were required to generate them: the analysis and variable specifications. This information can be used to generate subsequent analyses without you having to specify the same information over again. Action objects significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to generate a series of related analyses.
INTERACTIVITY
All Abacus Concepts software is completely interactive. Results are dynamically linked to datasets so that any changes to your data are automatically reflected in results. Simply make the change to your dataset, and StatView automatically recalculates your results. This feature makes it easy to perform “what-ifs” on data. It also means that once you have generated your graphs and tables, there is no need to repeat the whole process if you find a data error or want to eliminate a possible outlier.
HINTS
Help is available for most facets of the program. If you are running System 7, you can turn on balloon help and get information on each menu item, control, dialog box button and more. If you are running System 6, the same information is available in a floating hints window (which you can also use under System 7). If you are ever unclear about a program operation, you can simply open the hints window or turn on balloon help to discover how the program works.
EXTENSIBILITY
Finally, StatView has been developed using the latest object-oriented technology allowing Abacus Concepts to deliver new program features to you as modular extensions. Instead of releasing an entirely new version, we can deliver a single extension to the program which, once placed in the Tools folder, will appear in the program. These extensions can be anything from new graphs and statistics to additional data management functions. We would like to here from you about the extensions to StatView that you would like to see.
3. StatView 4.0 Features
StatView is an integrated data analysis system, combining powerful graphing, drawing, spreadsheet-like data management tools and comprehensive statistical capabilities, all in a single application. All this functionality is accessible through StatView’s innovative, fast and easy-to-use analysis process.
DATA MANAGEMENT
StatView holds its data in a dataset, a spreadsheet format in which columns represent variables (such as gender, weight, height) and rows represent cases (such as patients in a medical study or plots in a field study). You can enter data by hand, or easily import it as a text file from another application. The Formula generator allows you to create variables using simple or complex arithmetic functions and generate various series or distributions. The dataset includes an attribute pane, in which descriptive statistics for each variable can be accessed by a click of the mouse. You will also find it easy to look at subsets of your data using criteria or splitting by different grouping variables.
VIEW WINDOW
After entering or importing data, you are ready to perform analyses. All the results of your analyses are placed in a view. A single view can display tables and graphs from an unlimited number of analyses. A view can also simultaneously display results from different datasets. You can even combine variables from different datasets in a single analysis. You can save a view, with all its contents, and reopen it later for review or modification.
ANALYSIS PROCESS
There are two ways to generate graphical and statistical analyses in StatView: choose a template (shipped with the program or created by you) using the Analyze menu, or create an analysis from scratch using the analysis browser and the variable browser.
TEMPLATES
Templates are similar to batch programs or spreadsheet macros in that they record your actions and store them as a series of instructions, which the program executes all at once in response to a single command. You can customize a template to include frequently-used analyses along with extensive format specifications for graphs and tables. Templates are easy to create using StatView’s innovative graphic interface, but you may also use StatView’s ready-made templates to perform analyses without learning any other features of the program. In order to take full advantage of StatView’s potential, however, we recommend that you learn to create your own templates.
ANALYSIS AND VARIABLE BROWSERS
The analysis and variable browsers are the tools you use to create analyses from scratch and to create templates. The analysis browser lists all analyses, both statistical and graphical, so you can create any analysis with two clicks of the mouse. Most analyses present a dialog box in which you set the parameters of the analysis (specify the null hypothesis, significance levels, etc.).
The variable browser allows you to assign variables to your analyses. This browser lists all the variables in any open datasets; you can use it to open additional datasets as well. Variables are assigned, just as analyses are created, with two clicks of the mouse. The variable browser also offers several options for the order in which variables appear in the browser and displays information about how variables are used in analyses. These features will help you to use StatView effortlessly and efficiently.
GRAPHING AND DRAWING
Once you have created results you can customize and embellish them for presentation or publication. A wide spectrum of plots is available to support your conclusions graphically. StatView also contains powerful formatting tools that give you extensive control over the style, position, size, pattern and color of every object in the view and of every component of graphs and tables. The view is a complete drawing environment. The tools in the Draw menu can be used to add drawn objects such as arrows and circles to emphasize important points in your results. You can also add text anywhere in the view.
The following exercises provide an introduction to all these features of StatView.
4. Using StatView 4.0
The five exercises in this demonstration tutorial provide an introduction to the tools and concepts of StatView. In order to fully see the power of StatView we recommend that you follow the steps of the tutorials at your computer. This tutorial will familiarize you with the range of capabilities available with StatView 4.0. The exercises are as follows:
1. Use a ready-made template and save results
2. Create a dataset and analysis from scratch and save your work as a template
3. Work with the template you created and customize graphs
4. Customize your results for presentation and publication
5. Manipulate your data using formula and criteria
NOTE: when you first launch StatView you will notice that a floating “hints” window appears in the middle of the screen. StatView provides extensive on-line help in this hints window. You may close this floating window at any time by clicking on the close box. You may make it visible again by choosing Hints from the Window (or ∑) menu.
EXERCISE 1: USE A TEMPLATE AND SAVE RESULTS
StatView is designed to be easy and quick to use. Templates are central to this goal. Templates can be created to perform any combination of statistical or graphical analyses you wish, and they can contain detailed format specifications for the position, font, size, and other characteristics of the results. You do not have to make your own templates to use in StatView. There are many ready-made templates that generate a wide variety of analyses and graphs. Before you learn to create your own templates, you will first learn to use these ready-made templates to analyze data.
Note that only a selection of the ready-made templates is initially installed in the Analyze menu. The remaining templates are in the StatView templates folder, which can be reached by choosing Templates from the Analyze menu. You can customize this menu yourself, as explained below. In addition, this demonstration version includes only a few of the templates that ship with the full retail version.
In this first exercise, you use a ready-made template to generate descriptive statistics and save your results. You will analyze four variables from the sample dataset Car Data. The dataset has information about weight, gas tank size, turning circle, horsepower and engine displacement for 116 cars from different countries. You will generate descriptive statistics that will allow you to make comparisons among the cars from different countries.
• Open Car Data in the Sample Data folder. The dataset appears on the screen.
• Notice the smaller window floating above the dataset. It is the variable browser, a floating window that shows a list of all variables in the dataset. When you select a variable from the variable browser and double-click on it (or click the Show button), that variable is selected in the dataset, which automatically scrolls so the variable’s column is visible in the window.
• Click the show/hide variable browser button in the upper right corner of the dataset. The variable browser is now hidden, and you can see more of the dataset. This button allows you to easily show or hide the variable browser at any time.
• Choose New View from the Analyze menu. An empty view appears on the screen.
The analysis browser at the left of the view lists the statistical analyses and plots available in StatView. (Notice that the view also has a show/hide variable browser button in the upper right corner.) Since you will use a template to generate the analysis in this exercise, you will not use the analysis browser.
• Close the analysis browser by double-clicking on the ∑ symbol at the bottom left of the screen. This maximizes the amount of space in which you can view your results.
HIDE ANALYSIS AND VARIABLE BROWSERS
If you are operating StatView on a Macintosh with a small screen (Plus, SE, Classic, SE/30), you may want to use the program with the analysis and variable browsers initially hidden. This will give you more space in which to work. You can set the Application preferences by choosing Preferences from the Manage menu to show or hide these browsers on program startup.
The default, as you have just seen, is to show both browsers. If you choose to hide them, the variable browser will remain hidden until you choose to show it by clicking the show/hide variable browser button. The analysis browser will remain closed until you drag on the resize control (in the bottom left corner of the view) to show it.
<<CONTINUED IN THE DOCUMENT CALLED “STATVIEW 4.0 DEMO DOC 2”>>
