<s>
Free	B-Application
statistical	I-Application
software	I-Application
is	O
a	O
practical	O
alternative	O
to	O
commercial	O
packages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
of	O
the	O
free	O
to	O
use	O
programs	O
aim	O
to	O
be	O
similar	O
in	O
function	O
to	O
commercial	O
packages	O
,	O
in	O
that	O
they	O
are	O
general	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
packages	I-Algorithm
that	O
perform	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
statistical	O
analyses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
article	O
is	O
primarily	O
a	O
review	O
of	O
the	O
general	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
packages	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
SAS	B-Language
(	O
software	O
)	O
was	O
among	O
the	O
first	O
commercial	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
packages	I-Algorithm
,	O
released	O
for	O
mainframes	O
in	O
1968	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SAS	B-Language
has	O
since	O
then	O
released	O
versions	O
free	O
to	O
use	O
,	O
the	O
most	O
recent	O
of	O
which	O
is	O
SAS	B-Language
Studio	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Epi	B-Application
Info	I-Application
a	O
free	O
to	O
use	O
program	O
from	O
the	O
Centers	O
for	O
Disease	O
Control	O
and	O
Prevention	O
was	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
1980s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
completely	O
free	O
to	O
use	O
and	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
statistical	B-Algorithm
software	I-Algorithm
was	O
R	B-Language
,	O
first	O
released	O
in	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Muenchen	O
looks	O
at	O
trends	O
in	O
scholarly	O
articles	O
citing	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
software	I-Algorithm
packages	O
and	O
shows	O
that	O
,	O
while	O
SPSS	B-Algorithm
is	O
clearly	O
the	O
lead	O
,	O
R	B-Language
has	O
grown	O
steadily	O
and	O
was	O
,	O
in	O
2016	O
,	O
the	O
second	O
most	O
cited	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
shows	O
in	O
a	O
later	O
review	O
that	O
,	O
among	O
the	O
R	B-Language
point	O
and	O
click	O
packages	O
,	O
R	B-Language
Commander	I-Language
and	O
Rattle	O
have	O
been	O
the	O
most	O
frequently	O
downloaded	O
over	O
the	O
past	O
several	O
years	O
,	O
with	O
jamovi	B-Application
picking	O
up	O
in	O
popularity	O
in	O
the	O
most	O
recent	O
time	O
periods	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
article	O
similarly	O
found	O
R	B-Language
moving	O
up	O
,	O
in	O
this	O
case	O
to	O
third	O
place	O
,	O
but	O
also	O
reported	O
Epi	B-Application
Info	I-Application
consistently	O
in	O
the	O
top	O
10	O
at	O
three	O
different	O
time	O
periods	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
of	O
the	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
packages	O
are	O
from	O
governments	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
Epi	B-Application
Info	I-Application
,	O
which	O
is	O
from	O
CDC	O
(	O
Centers	O
for	O
Disease	O
Control	O
and	O
Prevention	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
JASP	B-Application
is	O
supported	O
by	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Amsterdam	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
other	O
packages	O
,	O
R	B-Language
,	O
and	O
PSPP	B-Language
are	O
being	O
developed	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	B-Application
GNU	I-Application
Project	I-Application
by	O
a	O
large	O
group	O
of	O
individuals	O
,	O
many	O
of	O
them	O
volunteers	O
,	O
all	O
over	O
the	O
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
packages	O
are	O
notable	O
in	O
that	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
just	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
but	O
also	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
in	O
the	O
same	O
sense	O
that	O
material	O
written	O
on	O
Wikipedia	O
is	O
free	O
:	O
others	O
can	O
edit	O
,	O
use	O
,	O
and	O
redistribute	O
at	O
will	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
example	O
is	O
Epi	B-Application
Info	I-Application
,	O
developed	O
for	O
public	O
health	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
of	O
the	O
packages	O
,	O
PSPP	B-Language
,	O
R	B-Language
and	O
Osiris	O
do	O
n't	O
appear	O
to	O
give	O
any	O
statements	O
about	O
why	O
they	O
were	O
developed	O
,	O
other	O
than	O
just	O
general	O
use	O
for	O
statistical	O
analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
packages	O
have	O
been	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
scholarly	O
publications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Irristat	O
is	O
used	O
in	O
an	O
agricultural	O
report	O
,	O
EasyReg	O
is	O
listed	O
or	O
used	O
in	O
several	O
papers	O
,	O
EpiInfo	O
was	O
also	O
used	O
in	O
several	O
papers	O
,	O
R	B-Language
was	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
papers	O
and	O
WinIdams	O
was	O
used	O
in	O
other	O
papers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
a	O
few	O
reviews	O
of	O
free	B-Application
statistical	I-Application
software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
were	O
two	O
reviews	O
in	O
journals	O
(	O
but	O
not	O
peer	O
reviewed	O
)	O
,	O
one	O
by	O
Zhu	O
and	O
Kuljaca	O
and	O
another	O
article	O
by	O
Grant	O
that	O
included	O
mainly	O
a	O
brief	O
review	O
of	O
R	B-Language
.	O
Zhu	O
and	O
Kuljaca	O
outlined	O
some	O
useful	O
characteristics	O
of	O
software	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
ease	O
of	O
use	O
,	O
having	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
statistical	O
procedures	O
and	O
ability	O
to	O
develop	O
new	O
procedures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Grant	O
reviewed	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
programing	O
features	O
of	O
R	B-Language
,	O
and	O
briefly	O
mentioned	O
the	O
availability	O
of	O
other	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
other	O
paper	O
reviewed	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
packages	I-Algorithm
,	O
mainly	O
commercial	O
,	O
but	O
includes	O
R	B-Language
.	O
One	O
article	O
reviewed	O
EasyReg	O
and	O
included	O
a	O
discussion	O
of	O
its	O
accuracy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
2006	O
review	O
,	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
packages	O
read	O
either	O
CSV	O
files	O
or	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
packages	O
also	O
gave	O
the	O
same	O
regression	O
results	O
as	O
did	O
excel	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
example	O
data	O
sets	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
review	O
,	O
and	O
for	O
the	O
package	O
versions	O
available	O
in	O
November	O
2006	O
when	O
this	O
review	O
was	O
conducted	O
,	O
two	O
packages	O
,	O
MicrOsiris	O
and	O
Epi	B-Application
Info	I-Application
,	O
could	O
read	O
files	O
with	O
blanks	O
for	O
missing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
more	O
recent	O
review	O
,	O
from	O
2022	O
,	O
compared	O
output	O
from	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
free	O
to	O
use	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
packages	I-Algorithm
and	O
found	O
they	O
all	O
gave	O
pretty	O
much	O
the	O
same	O
results	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
various	O
reviews	O
of	O
commercial	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
software	I-Algorithm
,	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
comparison	O
between	O
several	O
major	O
packages	O
and	O
a	O
brief	O
review	O
of	O
several	O
packages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Before	O
using	O
any	O
statistical	B-Algorithm
packages	I-Algorithm
,	O
it	O
is	O
generally	O
a	O
good	O
idea	O
to	O
have	O
a	O
solid	O
background	O
in	O
Statistics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
of	O
these	O
packages	O
are	O
menu	O
driven	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
learned	O
in	O
a	O
couple	O
of	O
hours	O
at	O
most	O
,	O
except	O
R	B-Language
,	O
which	O
is	O
generally	O
code	O
driven	O
and	O
requires	O
a	O
much	O
longer	O
time	O
to	O
learn	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
some	O
extent	O
CDC	O
's	O
Epi	B-Application
Info	I-Application
,	O
which	O
also	O
takes	O
some	O
time	O
to	O
learn	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
CDC	O
has	O
tutorials	O
about	O
Epi	B-Application
Info	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
R	B-Language
has	O
a	O
large	O
number	O
of	O
tutorials	O
and	O
manuals	O
,	O
in	O
English	O
and	O
other	O
languages	O
and	O
a	O
faq	O
site	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PSPP	B-Language
has	O
a	O
particularly	O
easy	O
to	O
follow	O
tutorial	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
rich	O
set	O
of	O
statistical	O
analyses	O
,	O
including	O
T-test	O
,	O
Oneway	O
and	O
Factorial	O
Anova	O
,	O
Linear	O
and	O
Logistic	O
regression	O
and	O
Principal	O
components	O
analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
few	O
of	O
the	O
packages	O
have	O
email	O
discussion	O
lists	O
,	O
including	O
R	B-Language
and	O
PSPP	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
manuals	O
or	O
guides	O
are	O
for	O
R	B-Language
,	O
PSPP	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Zelig	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finally	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
commercial	O
packages	O
such	O
as	O
SAS	B-Language
,	O
SPSS	B-Algorithm
and	O
many	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
R	B-Language
can	O
be	O
used	O
both	O
in	O
a	O
menu-driven	O
way	O
and	O
as	O
a	O
programming	O
language	O
and	O
as	O
an	O
interpreter	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
packages	O
are	O
able	O
to	O
import	O
data	O
from	O
Excel	B-Application
or	O
CSV	O
(	O
text	O
with	O
commas	O
separating	O
values	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
packages	O
,	O
like	O
PSPP	B-Language
and	O
MicrOsiris	O
,	O
can	O
automatically	O
deal	O
with	O
the	O
missing	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
some	O
packages	O
,	O
like	O
PSPP	B-Language
or	O
MicrOsiris	O
,	O
read	O
in	O
or	O
import	O
the	O
original	O
data	O
set	O
,	O
the	O
packages	O
will	O
recognize	O
that	O
those	O
values	O
are	O
missing	O
,	O
and	O
do	O
their	O
calculations	O
accordingly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
Zelig	O
installation	O
manual	O
,	O
use	O
of	O
Zelig	O
requires	O
that	O
R	B-Language
and	O
several	O
of	O
its	O
libraries	O
already	O
be	O
installed	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
installation	O
also	O
requires	O
some	O
degree	O
of	O
background	O
in	O
R	B-Language
.	O
One	O
limit	O
of	O
MicrOsiris	O
is	O
in	O
handling	O
the	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
R	B-Language
is	O
both	O
written	O
by	O
and	O
used	O
by	O
a	O
large	O
number	O
of	O
people	O
all	O
over	O
the	O
world	O
,	O
and	O
many	O
forums	O
and	O
other	O
internet	O
facilities	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
get	O
support	O
from	O
other	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
R	B-Language
is	O
powerful	O
,	O
the	O
learning	O
curve	O
can	O
be	O
rather	O
steep	O
for	O
those	O
not	O
already	O
familiar	O
with	O
other	O
kinds	O
of	O
scientific	O
programming	O
.	O
</s>
