Digital Amy
Statistical Analysis Packages: Digital Amy's Journalism Tech Tip 37
R Project for Statistical Computing: http://www.r-project.org/
PSPP: http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/get.html
DAP: http://www.gnu.org/software/dap/
BrightStat: http://www.brightstat.com/
Statistical analysis packages. The analysis of data as part of a news story is a common part of the journalist's day to day work. Finding the right tools and programs to help the journalist with this analysis can be daunting. In some cases, Microsoft Excel can do the trick. In other cases when the data analysis requires specific statistical tests (such as multiple regression) and the data file includes thousands of records, a statistical package may be needed.
For statistical packages, the most commonly used in the industry by statisticians is SPSS (now owned by IBM), Stata and SAS. However, these packages can be hefty in price (over thousands of dollars) for any journalist or news organization to purchase. There are some free options if the journalist is willing to explore and test them out. R Project, PSPP (the free replacement to SPSS), DAP (free replacement to SAS) and BrightStat are a few of the many statistical packages that are free to use and have many of the same functions and features as commercial products do. Taking this into consideration though, patience is required with downloading and using any free software, so reading the FAQs, documentation and manuals of how the software operates is a must. Also, some software requires a specific operating platform or that the user already has specific knowledge of certain programming languages in order to use the software, so read first before you download.
About Me
Amy Schmitz Weiss is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University. Schmitz Weiss has a PhD in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a co-founder of her college's online newspaper and has worked at Chicago Tribune Online and Indianapolis Star News Online, where she produced and wrote news packages. Schmitz Weiss has also worked in business development, marketing analysis, and account management for several Chicago Internet media firms. Her research interests include online journalism, media sociology, news production, multimedia journalism, and international communication. She has an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and B.A. in Journalism and Spanish from Butler University. Explore the website to learn more about Digital Amy!
(En Español) Amy Schmitz Weiss es un profesor asistente en la Escuela de Periodismo y Estudios de Medios en la Universidad del Estado, San Diego. Schmitz Weiss tiene un doctorado en periodismo desde la Universidad de Texas en Austin. Fue coordinadora del periódico en línea de su universidad, y trabajó para el Chicago Tribune Online e Indianápolis Star News Online, donde produjo paquetes multimedia de noticias para la Web. Schmitz Weiss también ha trabajado en desarrollo de negocios, análisis de mercado y manejo empresarial de negocios de Internet en Chicago. Sus intereses de investigación incluyen periodismo en línea, sociología de la prensa, producción de noticias, periodismo multimedia, y comunicación internacional. Tiene un Master en periodismo de la Universidad de Texas en Austin y un B.A. en periodismo y español de la Universidad Butler.
