This is something I really want to be good at, and I need someone to show me how to get started in mastering statistics. Like what tools I should use, books I should read, tutorials online I should look at, etc. -what's a better program to use to make charts? excel? minitab? -would be cool to have durvasa chime in this thread. -any better alternative spreadsheet than excel? -important youtube vids i should watch? Thanks...
I'm taking statistics right now. Use stattrek to learn about most of the basics of statistics. It is great for starters. I would use excel for charts.. also a ti84 calculator really helps
Keep in mind serious advanced statistics can be tedious, boring (even in context of sports) and quite difficult. I took a class in college called econometrics which was a serious combination of Econ and stat taught by this serious turtleneck sweater wearing eastern euro professor... freaking impossible class. Anyway, sorry no help from me. Khan academy, local colleges, Internet, etc
there is a difference between what most people think is good statistics and what is actual good statistics. For example many people (who are not experts) like to use programs such as SPSS (not for spreadsheets but for calculations). But for more experts that is not a good program. In general I think a SPSS is a good program to learn the first basics.
do you mean just the basic summary statistics or more more in depth in research area? if the latter, get in a good school. as far as software goes, SAS is the king. i use it pretty much everyday. used R while i was in graduate school, but the industry prefers SAS.
Are there any freeware out there that does some of the stuff SAS does? I want to build a couple of regression model for different things just for fun but since I got used to SAS, not sure if there are things out there. I know R is one but how much data can it actually chew through?
R is fine. SAS is commericial and R is open source. haven't used R since school days, but i remember running simulations on it. for regression, R is more than enough.
Unfortunately, I don't have anything expertly to offer. I only know some basic Excel stuff. I rarely use anything more than Excel and a text editor, personally. My suggestion would be to google R tutorials.
Alright cool. Question though, how did you come to understand stats and how to interpret them so well? Like when you post all those threads about NBA players using statistics.
I think I just spend too much time looking at stats. I used to read Hollinger's Pro Basketball Forecast/Prospectus books, and also Dean Oliver's Basketball on Paper. Those served as a good introduction. Also, over the years I've been following the various conversations on the APBRmetrics board and related blogs. But, honestly, its not something I have much expertise in myself, particularly the more sophisticated statistical techniques some of these advanced stats people sometimes use.
Used Palisade's Stattools. Pretty nice integration with excel, but it's not free. Used it during my MBA and will probably use it until my license runs out. Will give R a go if I can't use SAS at my new job. Found it funny that the OP asked about statistics, since the term outlier is a statistical reference for being from other results.
How easy is R if I know SAS? (Probably should just bite the bullet, download it and start using it). Are there any other alternatives?
Personally, I think you can use any number of statistics programs to answer your questions of interest (SPSS, SAS, etc). But, in the end, good statistics rely on a good foundation and understanding of what it is you are trying to examine, not the type of program you are using. Definitely consider picking up a book on the fundamentals and when you get more in-depth, go into areas like psychometrics or econometrics for the particular field you like.
