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Published November 10th, 2016 by

How to Use a Statistical Analysis Software to Uncover Hidden Trends

How to Use a Statistical Analysis Software to Uncover Hidden Trends

You just have to look around to see that statistics can be found everywhere. It affects the daily lives of the people in a lot of ways. Statistics also affect almost all industries and manufacturers. It is a science of exploring, collecting and presenting huge amounts of data. Statistical analysis helps discover underlying trends and patterns.

It is utilized by health researchers to ensure the safety and consistency of vaccines that are produced. It is used by communication companies to optimize their network resources and gain insights to improve customer service. Government agencies apply statistics to help improve the operations of their people and businesses. Hundreds of processes and products have benefited from statistical analysis.

It is not an easy task to choose the best statistical analysis software. You need a software that is equipped with the basics – a software that’s similar to the one you used in your statistics courses before. However, you have to consider what type of software you really need since some packages are only intended for basic learning. It may not have the features to handle advanced formulas that some researchers use.

Statistics is a critical field in making important decisions. Most industries base some of their life-changing decisions on the result of statistical analysis. Discussed below are some of the aspects of statistical analysis that needs to be defined and understood. It tackles important points on how a statistical analysis software helps uncover hidden trends. These trends play an important part of people’s lives.

Statistical Analysis

A lot of businesses highly depend on statistical analysis of data organization and predict trends in the future. With statistical analysis, individual samples or whole data is examined. Businesses use statistical analysis to collect and scrutinize business data and report trends. In a sample population, each data is examined while less sophisticated methods examine cross representation samples.

Statistical analysis is usually completed with five (5) steps. The first process involves describing and analyzing the data’s nature. Next is the exploration of the data’s relationship to its underlying population. A model is then created that would summarize how the underlying population is related to the data. The validity of the model is either proved or contradicted while anticipating future trends.

Businesses have different approaches on how to use statistical analysis software. They use collected information to find which product lines are top performing. It can even be used to identify staff who are performing poorly. The sales performance of different areas can also be identified through the use of a statistical analysis software.

There are statistical tools that are used for predictive modeling. These tools allow businesses to examine additional information. However, the tools for statistical analysis show trend predictions which are affected by outside factors.

Statistical Practices

Statistical analysis has traditional computing methods – from data sampling to the interpretation of results. Scientists have used these for more than a thousand years. The volume of data today has made statistics more powerful and valuable. Computers are now more powerful with advanced algorithms. Storing large amounts of data have now become affordable.

All these have led to the increased utilization of statistical computation methods. Statistical computing is indispensable for statisticians, especially when working with huge volumes of data. Statistical practices such as statistical programming, econometrics, operations research, matrix programming, statistical visualization, quality improvement and high-performance statistics are necessary to come up with more scientific decisions.

Statistical programming involves the use of linear regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Statistical visualizations and other exact methods are also utilized by different fields to make decisions based on the data gathered. The forecasting, simulating and modeling of businesses processes is known as econometrics. Statistics is applied to economics to be able to forecast upcoming trends.

Identifying actions to produce results which are the best involves operations research. These actions are based on different outcomes and options. Optimization of management challenges and business processes require simulation, scheduling and related processes. Matrix programming is a computer technique that is powerful enough to implement data analysis and statistical methods with the use of operation algorithms.

Statistical visualization is an interactive and fast statistical analysis software with exploratory capabilities. You are given a visual interface that has the features to build models and understand data. If you require a more mathematical approach to reviewing safety and quality characteristics for production aspects, you need a quality improvement software. A high-performance statistics software is ideal for large data challenges. Parallel processing and in-memory structures fit models quicker, perform iterations and utilize complex techniques.

Statistical Analysis Type

The two (2) main categories of statistical analysis are inference (a.k.a modeling) and descriptive. Most organizations use descriptive statistics to summarize data. Descriptive statistics is used to describe a huge amount of data summarized into tables and charts. However, it does not draw conclusions from where the sample was collected. Data is simply summarized in the form of graphs and charts.

Tables, graphs, and charts are chief components of descriptive statistics. This allows raw data to be easily visualized and understood. Students can also use a statistical analysis software for research. Basic statistic work can be simply described by descriptive statistics. This kind of statistics analyzes data but does not make conclusions out of its hypotheses.

Descriptive statistics allows simple interpretation and presentation of data. It includes the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, and range. On the other hand, inferential statistics enables you to study data further. This type of statistics allows testing of a hypothesis and then drawing conclusions from the data. A sample is obtained from the data to be examined.

When you use a statistical inference, its conclusions are called a statistical proposition. Types of statistical proposition include estimates, confidence interval, and credible intervals. A specific value that approximates an interesting parameter is an estimate.

A confidence interval is a set of data drawn from a certain population which underwent repeated sampling. These intervals contain parameter values with probability stated at a confidence level. A set of values which contain a posterior belief of ninety-five percent (95%) is called credible intervals.

Software Advantages

Sometimes you don’t even have to ask what a statistical analysis software does. The high demand to manage big strains of data nowadays is one of the main concerns of most. The application of mathematical concepts to make a huge impact on industries is not an easy task. Not everyone is a genius in mathematics. You cannot easily compute large amounts of acquired data by companies. Almost all businesses utilize a statistical analysis software.

Providers offer statistical analysis software for the betterment of many organizations and businesses. With the use of a software, generating charts and graphs can be done quickly. There are different types of software for different types of needs. There is also a simpler software that focuses on descriptive statistics and a software for more sophisticated computations such as inferential statistics. The popular statistics software today are SPSS, IBM’s, Revolution Analytics’ R, SAS, Stata, and Minitab.

Conclusion

Statistics is a vast and unique field because it encompasses health research to analysis in marketing and even light bulb longevity. There is just so much you can do with it. Learning statistical analysis software really takes time and practice. Choosing a statistics software may be difficult since they all have common features. Sometimes, the only difference you will notice is their interface.

Familiarizing yourself with different applications has also its advantages. You can use whichever software is given to you. However, for starters, it is best to focus on one software first and master it. Courses offered at schools usually offer one similar package for everyone. If you are a statistician, it is best to at least familiarize yourself with two. Always make sure that your software is up to date.

Learning a statistics analysis software won’t be easy. There are books, workshops and online tutorials that can assist and help you. Familiarize yourself with some wordings that may not be similar to other packages. It is imperative that you master the software with all your heart. It is also important to consider how much a software costs.

If you need a software for your business, make sure to go with the more comprehensive ones. You must always do your research first before you purchase a software. Make sure your software will fit the needs of your business. If you happen to accidentally purchase a software that lacks a certain feature you really need, consult your provider first to check if it is available as an add-in.

Remember that people’s needs are different. A statistics software that worked for other people or businesses may not always work for you. Make sure that you select a statistical analysis software that best suits your business.

Do you want to hire a company that offers the best software for statistical analysis? Make sure to go to CrowdReviews.com and read their reviews of statistical analysis software.

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