Stats Doesn't Have to be Scary!

Looking for a free, open-source, easy-to-use statistics program? If you haven't heard about JASP before, then I suggest you read my blog more often! 😂 I've already promoted the use of JASP in the classroom and in research, despite a few limitations such as the inability to edit graphs.

Check out the full playlist: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvPJKAgYsyoJxXZn-fTmqxF_GfOQ-htvJ

In trying to probe the limits of JASP, I uploaded a dataset with over 40,000 rows and 6 or 7 columns of data. It took a minute to upload such a large file, but there was no problem with running analyses even on a large dataset such as that one!

I think most behavioral researchers could spend their entire careers using this program, as long as they also have another program handy to generate publication-quality graphs. R is a popular solution for this (though you'll have to learn a bit of programming to use it).

Benjamin Nanes, MD, PhD, recommends additional options such as ImageJ or Inkscape. They're free, which is a big plus for impoverished graduate students and/or those who simply want to avoid the hassle of trying to get a license for SPSS or another such program on their personal computers.

Though I haven't tried these myself (yet!), I trust Dr. Nanes' recommendations and plan to try them out soon. Another option, also recommended by Dr. Nanes, is Inkscape: this could be used to add text (such as axis labels) to the graph generated by JASP and export it in a vector format that your journal will accept.

Everything I've said so far about JASP also goes for jamovi, another free and open-source program with a user-friendly interface. JASP started development before jamovi, so it's a little further along in its capabilities, but the original lead programmer for JASP is the lead programmer for jamovi, so there are many similarities between the programs--and I like both of them! jamovi does have a few features that JASP lacks, including the ability to see the R syntax for a given operation. This makes jamovi a great bridge for those who would like to learn R!

Since both JASP and jamovi are based on R but provide a far more visually appealing user interface, the analyses are trustworthy (though I've double-checked some analyses myself) and the programs themselves are easy to use.

In any case, if you're wondering why I like JASP so much, I made and edited a series of videos yesterday showing how to install JASP, upload files, and run most of the common tests in JASP 0.8.6.0. I've compiled these videos into a YouTube playlist; note that the instructions for jamovi are going to be quite similar.

screenshot of JASP 0.8.6.0 from my own computer

If you haven't already tried JASP or jamovi, what are you waiting for?

***

Wondering about the social media usage of actual college students? 

Check out the results of this totally informal—but real—survey.

In case you missed it, I review some fantastic, easy-to-use, and FREE stats programs here.

For more help explaining statistical concepts and when to use them, 

please download my freely available PDF guide here!

A replacement for SPSS?

Could this program be the end of SPSS?

I have previously recommended JASP as a useful—and free!—statistical software package. I stand by that recommendation (nay, I'm doubling down on it!) as JASP has the following advantages:

1. A slick, easy-to-grasp user interface
2. All of the major types of statistical test, including one-sample, repeated-measures, and independent-samples t tests, ANOVA, ANCOVA, correlation, regression, and even the chi-square test for independence [i.e. the two-variable chi-square]. It even has a module for structural equation modeling, for those who conduct such analyses!
3. Bayesian analogues to each of the above tests
4. A simple, one-click method to run these tests, which makes it an ideal instructional tool (and useful for many basic research needs as well). 
5. It's a no-cost, open-source, cross-platform (Windows, MacOS, Linux) program, so there are zero barriers to personal use.
6. It launches pretty quickly, and runs extremely fast—even on low-powered computers. 

JASP Screenshot from my own personal computer 

This image is freely available for use; just cite http://psychsci.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-replacement-for-spss.html

The recent [March 21, 2017] release of version 0.8.1.1 has rendered JASP is even more useful than it was in the past! Here's the latest major change to the program:

• Data synchronization that (finally!) allows you to edit your data from within the program itself. You can sync a .csv file, .sav file, or .ods [LibreOffice spreadsheet] file.
• By the way, LibreOffice is a great, free alternative to Microsoft Office. I encourage you to check it out and shed the shackles of expensive, closed-source software!

Now that you can edit the data in a window in the statistical program itself (via data synchronization, which can be turned off if you so desire), and since a previous build allowed users to integrate JASP output with their OSF page, I think that JASP has finally become good enough to provide many researchers with all the statistical capability they need!

SPSS can still perform some of the more esoteric/advanced statistical procedures that JASP cannot, such as multi-level modeling. But since such procedures tend to be used relatively infrequently (at least in experimental social science research such as my own), JASP can probably handle the bulk of your analytical load.

Further, as a stats instructor, this tool is my secret weapon! I am encouraging students to use this program for an APA-style paper for which they have to run a handful of analyses to answer different questions.

This semester, I asked my Stats students how they felt about SPSS, and they generally weren't too fond of the program due to its complexity, pickiness, and uninformative error messages (not to mention an appearance that's stuck in the 1990s).

After I demonstrated JASP in class, the students seemed far more impressed with the free and open JASP than they were with the costly SPSS!

EDIT 5/30/2018: Just discovered that JASP is now available as an online resource, according to this blog post on the JASP website and a Tweet by E.J. Wagenmakers. You have to sign up for a RollApp account if you want to use this option.

And, if for some reason you're not a fan of JASP, a similar (and also free!) option called jamovi is under development. You can type data straight into this one, whereas I don't believe that's an option yet in JASP. jamovi lacks some features that JASP incorporates, but it's still a nice stats program for use in the classroom (or for your research)!

jamovi screenshot from my own personal computer

This image is freely available for use; just cite http://psychsci.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-replacement-for-spss.html

Should IBM be worried about SPSS adoption rates? Maybe...

Intrigued? Here is the website; you can download JASP by clicking 

the "Download" tab and selecting the version that's appropriate for your operating system. 
 

Or you can just follow this link instead. Hey, what do you have to lose? 

Try out this free stats program and see if it meets your needs! If it doesn't, you can just uninstall it...

If you'd like to try jamovi, here's the link for that.

A practical guide to Psych Stats

I've previously found the document "Reporting Statistics in Psychology" highly useful, and so I made a presentation for a stats course that I think is worth sharing! My own guide, a supplement of sorts, goes into a slightly broader variety of topics than the previous link, and mine also lists a 'bottom-line' approach that I think will be helpful to the people who just want to know what they should do!


Mine is called "A practical guide to Psych Stats," and I've made a freely available, freely downloadable PDF of that presentation here.

This is probably going to be useful to you if any of the following are true:

Early-career/inexperienced students:

• You've been unsure which test is appropriate for a certain dataset
• You've struggled to understand psych stats from a conceptual perspective
• You've struggled to write up statistical results in APA style
• You've wished there was an easier-to-use stats program
• You've wished there was a free stats program that you can run on your own computer

 More experienced/advanced students:

• You've thought that null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) procedures didn't make sense
• You think that the APA's reporting standards for statistical tests aren't stringent enough
• You're not sure how to interpret standardized measures of effect size
• You want to know a little bit more about Bayesian statistics
• You're not sure how to interpret your Bayesian statistics
• You're looking for a free/better/more user-friendly/more widely-compatible stats program to run on your own computer

Instructors:

• You're looking for a quick, easy, free, relatively brief resource to guide your students through the morass that is psych stats
• Bonus: links are embedded! :D
  However, for best effect, you must download the PDF, as the online preview version may randomly insert characters that will break the links :(

 Enjoy, and I hope you find this helpful!