Hello
Please excuse my interruption of the statistical flow :-)
I have subscribed to this list because Stata 8 is on my short list of
possible statistical packages for use under OS X 10.2 and I wanted to
get a feel for what the users are finding about the product. I have
used Data Desk (versions 4 to 6) for eight years but must either wait
ages for a new version under OS X, continue using Data Desk in Classic
mode (unhappy) or choose something else like Stata or JMP or the like.
I am not a professional scientist or statistician (although the field
was part of my tertiary education) but use a stats package and
modelling tools from time to time in both consulting-related analysis
of large-volume data communications logs, performance and transactions
data and in academic analysis of financial market notions. (Don't worry
trying to work out the moonlighting.)
My uses may be limited in that I tend to use basic scatterplots,
histograms, box plots and rotating plots to get a feel for the data,
then (after transformations and summary statistics) linear models and a
little cluster analysis in testing hypotheses, or extracting factors
for entry into models for simulations. High-quality scientific (not
"marketing") charts are important in presenting findings because in the
consulting area much of my work is problem management where I often
find I have to disprove current pet theories and later convince people
about real causes and solutions. You could say I am oriented to
language and diagrams rather than to mathematics and formulae.
My impression of Stata 8 is that is is considerably more powerful than
I might exploit and also that it may not have the ease of use for a
semi-casual user. I would expect to use menus rather than a language
simply so I do not have to learn by rote a product which is used in
bursts rather than daily or weekly. I want something which does not
unduly limit what I can achieve but is exploitable without first
requiring I become a high priest of the faith. It should give me the
opportunity to extend my statistical learning rather than make it
pre-requisite for every step.
Would anyone like to comment on Stata 8 in relation to my needs as I
have expressed them? Can you offer comparative experience with other
packages (especially Data Desk, JMP or SPSS)?
thanks
David Vaughan
Director
DVK Consult Pty Ltd
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