Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models and their associated estimation procedures used to analyze the differences among means. ANOVA was developed by the statistician Ronald Fisher. ANOVA is based on the law of total variance, where the observed variance in a particular variable is partitioned into components attributable to different sources of variation. In its simplest form, ANOVA provides a statistical test of whether two or more population means are equal, and therefore generalizes the t-test beyond two means.
Statistics is a field of inquiry that studies the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. It is applicable to a wide variety of academic disciplines, from the physical and social sciences to the humanities; it is also used and misused for making informed decisions in all areas of business and government.
In statistics, exploratory data analysis is an approach of analyzing data sets to summarize their main characteristics, often using statistical graphics and other data visualization methods. A statistical model can be used or not, but primarily EDA is for seeing what the data can tell us beyond the formal modeling or hypothesis testing task. Exploratory data analysis was promoted by John Tukey to encourage statisticians to explore the data, and possibly formulate hypotheses that could lead to new data collection and experiments. EDA is different from initial data analysis (IDA), which focuses more narrowly on checking assumptions required for model fitting and hypothesis testing, and handling missing values and making transformations of variables as needed. EDA encompasses IDA.
The Kruskal–Wallis test by ranks, Kruskal–Wallis H test, or one-way ANOVA on ranks is a non-parametric method for testing whether samples originate from the same distribution. It is used for comparing two or more independent samples of equal or different sample sizes. It extends the Mann–Whitney U test, which is used for comparing only two groups. The parametric equivalent of the Kruskal–Wallis test is the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Genstat is a statistical software package with data analysis capabilities, particularly in the field of agriculture.
Epi Info is statistical software for epidemiology developed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia (US).
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of statistical analysis packages.
The Unistat computer program is a statistical data analysis tool featuring two modes of operation: The stand-alone user interface is a complete workbench for data input, analysis and visualization while the Microsoft Excel add-in mode extends the features of the mainstream spreadsheet application with powerful analytical capabilities.
Analyse-it is a statistical analysis add-in for Microsoft Excel. Analyse-it is the successor to Astute, developed in 1992 for Excel 4 and the first statistical analysis add-in for Microsoft Excel. Analyse-it provides a range of standard parametric and non-parametric procedures, including Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, ANCOVA, Mann–Whitney, Wilcoxon, chi-square, correlation, linear regression, logistic regression, polynomial regression and advanced model fitting, principal component analysis, and factor analysis.
SigmaStat is a statistical software package, which was originally developed by Jandel Scientific Software in the 1980s. As of October 1996, Systat Software is now based in San Jose, California. SigmaStat users have the ability to compare effects among groups. This includes before and after or repeated measure studies. The users can also conduct survival analysis, analyze rates and proportions, perform regression and correlation analysis and calculate power and sample size. The program uses a wizard based interface which asks the user questions about the project and its data. After a test is run, the user receives a detailed report that interprets the results.
PSPP is a free software application for analysis of sampled data, intended as a free alternative for IBM SPSS Statistics. It has a graphical user interface and conventional command-line interface. It is written in C and uses GNU Scientific Library for its mathematical routines. The name has "no official acronymic expansion".
Exact statistics, such as that described in exact test, is a branch of statistics that was developed to provide more accurate results pertaining to statistical testing and interval estimation by eliminating procedures based on asymptotic and approximate statistical methods. The main characteristic of exact methods is that statistical tests and confidence intervals are based on exact probability statements that are valid for any sample size. Exact statistical methods help avoid some of the unreasonable assumptions of traditional statistical methods, such as the assumption of equal variances in classical ANOVA. They also allow exact inference on variance components of mixed models.
Psychometric software is software that is used for psychometric analysis of data from tests, questionnaires, or inventories reflecting latent psychoeducational variables. While some psychometric analyses can be performed with standard statistical software like SPSS, most analyses require specialized tools.
In statistics, one purpose for the analysis of variance (ANOVA) is to analyze differences in means between groups. The test statistic, F, assumes independence of observations, homogeneous variances, and population normality. ANOVA on ranks is a statistic designed for situations when the normality assumption has been violated.
LIMDEP is an econometric and statistical software package with a variety of estimation tools. In addition to the core econometric tools for analysis of cross sections and time series, LIMDEP supports methods for panel data analysis, frontier and efficiency estimation and discrete choice modeling. The package also provides a programming language to allow the user to specify, estimate and analyze models that are not contained in the built in menus of model forms.
Design–Expert is a statistical software package from Stat-Ease Inc. that is specifically dedicated to performing design of experiments (DOE). Design–Expert offers comparative tests, screening, characterization, optimization, robust parameter design, mixture designs and combined designs. Design–Expert provides test matrices for screening up to 50 factors. Statistical significance of these factors is established with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Graphical tools help identify the impact of each factor on the desired outcomes and reveal abnormalities in the data.
