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Quantitative Research Tools and Resources

Resources for quantitative research including general resources and software to facilitate statistical analysis.

Professor Avery

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Joshua Avery
Contact:
Buswell, 150
(630) 752-7434

Quantitative Methodology

Your methodology and the type of data you collect will determine the type of statistical analysis that you will do.  

Here are some general resources about qualitative data, your research design, and data analysis:

  • Watch the video below for a flowchart to help you evaluate your research design and appropriate data analysis.

Quantitative Data Analysis tools

Qualitative research by definition analyzes measurable data with the use of statistics.  Statistics can be calculated using software programs.  Along with SPSS, which is available on campus computers, there are other software programs that are free to download.

Commercial Statistical Software

SPSS is one of the most commonly used statistics and data analysis program in business, education, and academic research.  It is available on all public campus computers and you can also download a free 30 day evaluation copy of the software.  .- 

SPSS Statistics Essential Training from Lynda.com

Excel can be used for descriptive statistics and for more complex analysis with the Analysis ToolPak installed (available for all versions of Excel for PC but only Excel for MAC 2016). 

Free Statistical Software

R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It runs on both Window and MAC.  Download R from the project site.  If you would like a graphical user interface, download a free version of RStudio.

R Statistics Essential Training from Lynda.com

JAMOVI  is designed to be easy to use and is an alternative to costly statistical products such as SPSS and SAS. Built on top of the R statistical language and it will always be open and free.  Made for the scientific community, by the scientific community.

Jamovi User Guide

PSPP  (download from the PSPP website) is a program for statistical analysis of sampled data. It is a free alternative for SPSS, and has a similar look and feel.

It can perform descriptive statistics, T-tests, anova, linear and logistic regression, measures of association, cluster analysis, reliability and factor analysis, non-parametric tests and more.

OpenStat  (download from the OpenStat website) is a a general stats package for Windows.  However, it can be installed on a MAC using Wine. 

OpenStat has an SPSS-like user interface.  The web site has help documentation in the form of videos, ebooks, and user manuals.  Links to the Springer ebooks:

SOFA, Statistics Open For All, is a free "user-friendly statistics, analysis, & reporting program. It is free, with an emphasis on ease of use, learn as you go, and beautiful output."  Online user guide.  May not run on the most current MAC OS.

Comprehensive list of free statistical analysis software packages

Introduction to Statistics..What are they? And, How Do I Know Which One to Choose?

Data Visualization Tools

There are times when visualizing your data is a better way to represent the results.  There are free options available that you can use.

 

KyPlot 6.0  KyPlot is a software package for data analysis and visualization.  Windows only.

JAMOVI  is designed to be easy to use and is an alternative to costly statistical products such as SPSS and SAS. Built on top of the R statistical language and it will always be open and free.  Made for the scientific community, by the scientific community.

Jamovi User Guide

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