In this course, software is needed for statistical analysis and simple resampling/simulation operations. We recommend one of these three options:
- Regular Excel (not Excel Starter) and Resampling Stats for Excel (must have Windows)
- StatCrunch (Windows or Mac OS)
- R
- Python
Excel: you will need to have some facility with using formulas in Excel.
Resampling Stats for Excel: this is a commercial add-in for Excel, designed as a practitioner’s tool for doing resampling simulations. A free license is available to all course participants, while they are enrolled in the statistics.com sequence of introductory statistics courses. Runs only on Windows. Enrolled students will be given access to a free 1-year trial of Resampling Stats through the software download link on the main Stats course webpage. You can also visit the Resampling Stats website and download the 1-year trial here.
StatCrunch: this is a very affordable web-based statistical software program, which also has simulation and resampling capabilities. Runs over the web, so can be used with both Windows and Mac. Resampling is not as intuitive as with Box Sampler and Resampling Stats for Excel. Learn more at www.statcrunch.com.
NOTE for StatCrunch Users: On all platforms, we recommend that you use the New version of StatCrunch. All examples in the textbook supplement are based on the New version of StatCrunch.
R: R is a powerful opensource statistical scripting language that is widely recognized as an industry standard. You will need to have familiarity with R and RStudio prior to taking the Statistics 1, 2 or 3 courses if you choose to use R as your software package. Comprehensive supplemental materials are available for R users. You can learn more about R here and RStudio here.
Python: Python is a language long used in computer science that has recently become quite popular in data science. You will need to have familiarity with Python prior to taking the Statistics 1, 2 or 3 courses if you choose to use Python as your software package. Comprehensive supplemental materials and support are available for Python users. We recommend the use of Jupyter notebooks and the Anaconda installation package.
Software Uses and Descriptions | Available Free Versions
To learn more about the software used in this course, or how to obtain free versions of software used in our courses, please read our knowledge base article “What software is used in courses?”