I have learned that stats for research is a dark box that you put numbers into, shake it up, and then record the numbers that come out. I use SPSS, my advisor uses SigmaPlot, and another PhD student in my lab uses R. Sometimes I’m not even sure if we are getting the same numbers out of the shaken black box and I am too afraid to ask…
ANOVA? Sure, it is those clicks in that menu. ANCOVA? MANOVA? sure, there is some thing I check off or some other spot I click on. What do they do? The computer prays to the number gods with a different accent, then I shake the ritual box and read the numbers that come out.
My day job uses SAS but I’ve used Stata and SPSS pretty extensively. SPSS is the most black-boxy out of all of them, but it’s also easiest to use. I see why it’s so popular in behavioral science; the math-heavy types tend not to go into psychology and similar.
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