Introduction
Data is an important part of today’s business world. We create and transfer huge amounts of data daily in today’s business world. So much that having access to as much as data as you can present a multitude of opportunities from a business perspective. But how can we turn this day into action? The answer is by using business intelligence. And what do I mean by business intelligence? Business intelligence can be regarded as the type of solution that collects and merges data, discover trends, creates a visualization of datasets and helps user make data-informed decisions. There are a lot of subcategories of BI tools that aim at more specific needs. Among these kinds of tools is statistical software.
What Is Statistical Analysis?
This refers to a form of quantitative data science. BI software vendor when defining statistical analysis describes it as “the science of collecting, exploring and presenting large amounts of data to discreet underlying patterns and trends.” Below are some of the things researchers, analysts and data scientists may use Statistical analysis for:
- Gather and present information uncovered by datasets.
- Analyze the relationship between data ad points.
- Discover the underlying patterns and trends in data
- Develop and ascertain or disprove the validity of probability models.
Learn about dependent and independent variables!
Why Should You Use Statistical Tools?
Statistical tools can help business intelligence in several ways. Since business intelligence is involved in the practice of analyzing and collecting data and revamping it into actionable insights, statistics can provide even more insight into how effectively your business is operating. This will help the user think ahead using predictive analytics models based on historical data.
Statistics can be quite difficult to complete but having the right tools will make it a feather in a hat. Below are some of the benefits of using a statistic analytic tool:
- It helps to increase efficiency from automated business data analysis workflow.
- It also helps to provide accurate predictions based on statistical algorithms, machine learning, hypothesis testing and machine learning.
- It provides access to larger databases which will help reduce small errors and enable more precise conclusions.
Tools for Statistical Analysis
There are a number of great tools available to carry out statistical analysis of data. They are;
SPSS (IBM)
SPSS stands for statistical package for the social sciences. It is regarded as the most popularly used statistics software package within human behavior research. SPSS provides the user with the ability to easily compile non-parametric and parametric analyses, descriptive statistics and graphical depictions of results through the use of graphical user interface (GUI). This software also comes with the option to carry out more advanced statistical processing and create scripts to automate analysis.
R (R Foundation for Statistical Computing)
R is another popular statistical package widely used across the globe for both human behavior research and in other fields. Another great thing about this tool is that it is free. R is a very powerful software but it requires a steep learning curve which requires a certain degree of coding. Nevertheless, the tool comes with an active community committed to improving and building R and the associated plugins. So if you run into any trouble, you can trust that help is never far away.
Matlab (The Mathworks)
This is an analytical platform and programming language that is used widely by scientists and engineers. Just like R, the learning path is steep and at some point, you will be required to create your own code. It comes with a lot of toolboxes made available to answer your research questions. Although MatLab can be difficult to use for amateurs, it provides a massive amount of flexibility especially in terms of what you want to do. This is as long as you can code it or even operate the toolbox you need.
Microsoft Excel
Although this is not your best solution for Statistical analysis, Microsoft Excel provides a wide variety of tools for simple statistics and data visualization. Generating summary metrics and customizable figures and graphics are very easy to perform on Excel especially for people who are looking to see the basics of their data. Many companies and individuals both own and know how to use Excel. This makes it a very accessible option for people who are just looking to get started with statistics.
SAS
This is a statistical analysis platform that offers options to create scripts for more advanced analyses or use of GUI. SAS is quite popular and widely used in healthcare, human behavior research, and business alike. This tool also makes it possible to make advanced analyses and produce graphs and charts worthy of production. However, the coding can be difficult for people who are not used to this approach.
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