StatsDirect
{{Infobox software
| name = StatsDirect
| logo =
| screenshot= statsdirect_logo_button.png
| developer = StatsDirect Ltd
| latest_release_version = Ver. 3.2.7
| latest_release_date = {{release date and age|2019|5|30}}
| operating_system = Windows
| genre = Statistical analysis
| license = proprietary
| website = [http://www.statsdirect.com www.statsdirect.com]
}}
StatsDirect is a statistical software package designed for biomedical, public health, and general health science uses. The second generation of the software was reviewed in general medical{{cite journal|last=Freemantle|first=Nick|title=CD: StatsDirect---Statistical Software for Medical Research in the 21st Century|journal=BMJ|date=16 December 2000|volume=321|issue=7275|pages=1536|doi=10.1136/bmj.321.7275.1536|s2cid=62184308 }} and public health journals.{{cite journal|last=Lipp|first=Alastair|title=Stats Direct|journal=Journal of Public Health|date=1 September 2002|volume=24|issue=3|pages=242|doi=10.1093/pubmed/24.3.242|doi-access=free}}
Features and use
StatsDirect's interface is menu driven and has editors for spreadsheet-like data and reports. The function library includes common medical statistical methods that can be extended by users via an XML-based description that can embed calls to native StatsDirect numerical libraries, R scripts, or algorithms in any of the .NET languages (such as C#, VB.Net, J#, or F#).{{cite web|url=http://www.statsdirect.com/sd3technology.aspx|title=StatsDirect Technologies|publisher=StatsDirect Ltd|accessdate=27 July 2014}}
Common statistical misconceptions are challenged by the interface. For example, users can perform a chi-square test on a two-by-two table, but they are asked whether the data are from a cohort (perspective) or case-control (retrospective) study before delivering the result. Both processes produce a chi-square test result but more emphasis is put on the appropriate statistic for the inference, which is the odds ratio for retrospective studies and relative risk for prospective studies.{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Cole|title=Statistical Testing in Practice with StatsDirect|year=2013|url=http://www.coledavis.org/book.html|isbn=978-1605944500}}
Origins
Professor Iain Buchan, formerly of the University of Manchester, wrote a doctoral thesis on the foundational work and is credited as the creator of the software.{{cite web|last=Buchan|first=Iain Edward|title=The Development of a Statistical Computer Software Resource for Medical Research (MD Thesis)|url=http://www.statsdirect.com/thesis/md.pdf|publisher=University of Liverpool|accessdate=3 May 2014}} Buchan said he wished to address the problem of clinicians lacking the statistical knowledge to select and interpret statistical functions correctly, and often misusing software written by and for statisticians as a result.{{cn|date=August 2023}}
The software debuted in 1989 as Arcus, then Arcus ProStat in 1993, both written for the DOS platform.{{cite journal|last=Adler|first=Eric|title=Arcus Pro-Stat 3 (Short Reviews)|journal=Personal Computer World|date=March 1994|pages=306|url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/690/Personal-Computer-World-March-1994/}} Arcus Quickstat for Windows followed in 1999.{{cite journal|last=Sachdev|first=Harshi|title=Arcus Quickstat (Multimedia Review)|journal=Indian Pediatrics|date=October 1999|volume=36|issue=10|pages=1075–1076|url=http://www.indianpediatrics.net/oct99-16.htm}} In 2000, an expanded version, StatsDirect, was released for Microsoft Windows. In 2013, the third generation of this software was released, written in C# for the .NET platform.
StatsDirect reports embed the metadata necessary to replay calculations, which may be needed if the original data is ever updated. The reproducible report technology follows the research object approach for replaying in "eLabs".{{cite journal|author1=Bechhofer, Sean |author2=Buchan, Iain |author3=De Roure, David |author4=Missier, Paolo |author5=Ainsworth, John |author6=Bhagat, Jiten |author7=Couch, Philip |author8=Cruickshank, Don |author9=Delderfield, Mark |author10=Dunlop, Ian |author11=Gamble, Matthew |author12=Michaelides, Danius |author13=Owen, Stuart |author14=Newman, David |author15=Sufi, Shoaib |author16=Goble, Carole |title=Why linked data is not enough for scientists|journal=Future Generation Computer Systems|volume=29|issue=2|pages=599–611|doi=10.1016/j.future.2011.08.004|year=2013|url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/271587/1/research-objects-final.pdf}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.statsdirect.com StatsDirect Home page]
{{Statistical software}}
Category:Health informatics in the United Kingdom
Category:University of Manchester