Other Statistics Software: surveys, data mining, specialty programs
These are other Macintosh software packages used for data analysis beyond those for regression, ANOVA, or time series analysis. You may also wish to see the list of general-purpose mathematical analysis packages. Don't forget to see the bottom of the page for software that's been abandoned but may still be useful in Classic.
Graphing and data visualization packages are on another page.
Updated 10-20-09
Survey software
There is no survey creation software for the Mac that we know about. There are many open source and commercial web-based survey programs, few worth getting. Windows survey software is hard to use and/or hideously overpriced, so Mac users aren't missing all that much. The main remaining Windows survey software providers are Raosoft’s EZSurvey and Snap’s pricey Snap Survey. Mac users may find SurveySaid to be the best solution; it is an online program which generates html or Java code, which the user can host on their own servers to maintain security. (Thanks, Marty Einhorn, for finding SurveySaid.)
Some may be able to use free solutions, e.g. Google’s App that lets you set up a nice-looking, simple form and have it feed into their on-line spreadsheet which can be analyzed in any statistical package. However, the many free and moderately priced Web-based solutions all require you to store data on their servers, which is inappropriate or unwise for many surveys. Some are also very slow for the respondents.
RapidMiner (data mining)
Configurations available: OS X (Intel only), Windows, UNIX
Current version: 4.5
Price: free (open source) for community edition; pricey standard edition
Listing updated 10/1/09
Commercial open source software said to be giving the closed-source programs a run for their money; despite the pretty Java GUI, it’s not a “load and use” package, but it also is not a “type esoteric commands from a huge, dense manual” program. It can import Excel files and connect to databases; most operations require some programming through its XML interface.
gretl
Configurations available: OS X (Intel only)
Current version: 1.7.4 (as of May 27, 2008)
Price: free (open source)
Listing updated 5/27-2008
gretl is a cross-platform software package for econometric analysis, written in the C programming language. It is is free, open-source software that reads in numerous formats and can link to R. Features include an easy, intuitive interface, a wide variety of estimators, time series methods, output in tabular, equation, or LaTeX formats, a scripting language, command loop structure, and GUI for fine tuning graphs. (Thanks, Rudi Bekkers).
dr-ROC
Configurations Available: Excel v.X, Excel 2004
Current Version: 1.1
Price: Individual license $150, student/resident and departmental licenses available.
dr-ROC performs summary ROC meta-analysis (Littenberg-Moses method) and other calculations on diagnostic test clinical trial data. It includes a pre-formatted results table and a variety of graphs with easy to use check-box options to display or hide various elements. Forest and logit plots included, along with post-test probability calculations. Menu-driven interface for analysis options including weighted regression and continuity correction. Available from Diagnostic Research Design & Reporting.
GRASS (open source GIS)
Preliminary entry. Not yet completed.
Installers available from http://openosx.com/grass (not free) and http://wwwamb.bologna.enea.it/forgrass (free).
Dennis Kahlbaum wrote: “Latest version has improved GUI (using X11 interface). As with most Open Source, continuously being improved and updated.”
Knowledge Miner
Configurations: Universal Binary
Current version: 6.0
Price: $300
Listing updated 4/2009
Data mining program that, according to its web site, "uses artificial intelligence to extract hidden knowledge from data...Even if you have no experience in modeling, data analysis or designing a neural network you will be able to model, analyze and predict complex relationships of nearly any kind of system. ... you can deal with a problem as is and don't have to construct artificial conditions for your modeling method to get it work." Knowledge Miner uses inductive learning algorithms, self-organizing fuzzy rule induction, analog complexing, and other methods; with yX for Excel, you can get cost curves for optimized cost-sensitive classification models, and an updated Business Intelligence Case Study application.
Knowledge Miner (yX) for Excel
Configurations Available: Universal Binary; works with Excel 2004 and 2008
Current Version: 2.0
Price: $1,500
Listing updated 10/20/2009
Knowledge Miner’s Microsoft Excel-based data mining tool; it uses Excel data to build predictive and descriptive models, based on (and including) Knowledge Miner with 64-bit and multi-core/multi-processor support. Both Excel 2004 and 2008 are supported, and multithreading takes advantage of multicore processors. New are 64-bit parallel processing, a climate change project, high-dimensional modeling, and a $700 price boost.
MuPAD
Configurations Available: 680x0; PowerPC native; OS X
Current Version: 3.11
Price: no charge for scientific/educational institutions
MuPAD is a multi-platform numerical analysis program (see this page for details). "MuPAD Pro is a full-fledged computer algebra system for symbolic and numeric computing. Beside the common features of all MuPAD versions, MuPAD Pro for Mac offers some highlights – especially a user-friendly interface – for doing mathematics as easy as possible with the conveniences of mouse and keyboard. This new port of MuPAD is so powerful and innovative that version 3 can be called as a revolution in visualization of mathematical objects."
Meta-Analysis Calculator
Configurations Available: 680x0; PowerPC native
Current Version: 1.0
Larry Lyons has developed a Mac-only software package that uses the Hunter-Schmidt algorithm to do a meta-analysis of prior research. If you have to ask, you probably don’t need it, but as Lyons explained, "Meta-analysis is a set of statistical procedures designed to accumulate experimental and correlational results across independent studies that address a related set of research questions." He has a web page explaining more about meta-analysis. The software (in 68k, PPC native and fat versions) is available for free downloading. We were unable to contact that site and may move this package to the next section.
GMT for geographic and Cartesian data
GMT is an open source collection of many tools for manipulating geographic and Cartesian data sets (including filtering, trend fitting, gridding, projecting, etc.) and producing Encapsulated PostScript File (EPS) illustrations ranging from simple x-y plots via contour maps to artificially illuminated surfaces and 3-D perspective views.
Specialty software from Marley Watkins
This software is available from Prof. Watkins at http://www.public.asu.edu/~mwwatkin/Watkins3.html (URL fixed 1/21/09; thanks, Tricia Jones). All is for System 9 and OS X.
- MacParallel Analysis: tables of eigenvalues produced by Monte Carlo simulations for determination of Parallel Analysis criteria.
- Monte Carlo PCA for Parallel Analysis: computes Parallel Analysis criteria (eigenvalues) by performing a Monte Carlo simulation. The user can specify 3-100 variables, 100-2500 subjects, and 1-1000 replications.
- r To z Conversion: calculates r-to-z and z-to-r.
- Ability-Achievement Discrepancy Analysis: performs a simple regression-based prediction of achievement for determination of a severe ability-achievement discrepancy.
- Coefficient of Congruence: calculates the coefficient of congruence for comparing factor solutions from different studies or different samples.
- Diagnostic Utilitity Statistics: calculates diagnostic efficiency statistics: sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate, false negative rate, positive and negative predictive power, odds ratio, Kappa, etc.
- ROC Analysis: graphs the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and calculates the Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) using a nonparametric method.
- Chi-Square Analysis: calculates the chi-square statistic for 2x2 to 10x10 contingency tables. Also calculates the contingency, phi, and kappa statistics.
- Probability Calc: calculates the probability of Z, t, F, and chi-square values.
- MacBonferroni calculates Holm's sequential Bonferroni method to maintain experimentwise error rates at a desired alpha level.
- RandomNum generates random numbers within a range specified by the user. 999k.
- UNITcalc calculates profile scores on the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test as per Wilhoit & McCallum (2002). 1100k.
- Simple t calculates independent and dependent t-tests from group data (mean, standard deviation, correlation). 1100k.
- MacKappa calculates general and partial kappa coefficients for nominal data. 1100k.
- CAcalculator-Revised calculates chronological age when given date of birth and date of test. 1 MB.
- rDiff calculates the reliability of difference scores, given the reliability of two tests and the correlation between those two tests. 800k.
- rProphecy calculates the Spearman-Brown 'Prophecy' formula that estimates the reliability of a test if its number of items is altered.850k.
- Effect Size Calculator calculates effect sizes (Cohen's d, r, Glass's ɢ, Common Language Effect Size) given appropriate means and standard deviations. 850k.
- MacOrtho transforms an hierarchical higher-order factor analysis solution into an orthogonal solution as described by Schmid and Leiman (1957). 1.2 MB.
- MacMahalanobis calculates Mahalanobis distance for multiple cases, given entry of an inverted covariance matrix. 1.1 MB.
- Pairwise Tests calculates three Pairwise Tests: simple Bonferroni adjustment, Holm's sequential Bonferroni method, and Benjamin and Hochberg's False Discovery Rate. 700k.
- alphaN estimates the sample size needed for a specified coefficient alpha, given the Type I error rate and effect size. 1.2 MB.
- rSim interactively simulates how the 95% confidence interval of the correlation coefficient and the statistical significance (p ≠ 0) vary as a function of sample size. 1.1 MB.
- ASCA Assistant for the Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents (ASCA). It also performs syndromic profile analysis, discriminant analysis, and situtype analysis. Only for those who own ASCA manual and protocols. 1.3 MB.
- Invariance calculates three indices of factorial invariance: the coefficient of congruence, a chi-square goodness of fit test, and Cattell's Salient Variable Similarity index. 1.2 MB.
Timeline
$50 software for making pretty timelines.
Data transfer / translation
Stat/Transfer can translate to and from most common statistical formats. Paul Hensel wrote: "There is a Mac OS X version of Stat/Transfer 8, which can be quite useful if anybody is considering moving to a different stats pacakge (or has already done so), or if anybody needs to share files with somebody who uses a different package." We have tried out this package, and it works surprisingly well, though you should check to make sure it can make the exact transitions you need. It’s now sold by SAS.
Image extraction software
This is essentially software that estimates data based on image files, such as scanned charts and graphs. Image extraction software page.
General math software
Statistical analysis (particularly time series analysis) can also be done using general-purpose mathematical software (especially with optional or standard plugins) such as:
- Mathematica: Feature/version parity across Mac, Linux, Windows, and UNIX versions. Universal Binary; version 7 is current.
- MATLAB: Version 7.04 has parity with Windows, Linux, and UNIX. A large number of other products are also available from this publisher for the Mac. Gets considerable use for statistics, particularly Bayesian.
- Maple: At version 10 with general feature parity across Mac and Windows; UNIX and Linux also available; Universal Binary
- IDL: current version is 6.1 and OS X or UNIX native (past versions were PowerPC).
- LiveMath (formerly known as MathView, Theorist and also sold as MathPlus): current version 3.5 includes PowerPC or OS X native support and is a Universal Binary according to the company.
Notes
Also see our abandoned Mac statistics software page.