MATH 1342. Using statistical software

Data and Brief Guides (Basic Practice of Statistics, 6th edition)

Where to use statistical software

Help:

• Most of the discussion you will need of how to use the software is included in the data pages above, by chapter. It is especially important to look at the information in chapters 1 and 2.
• More help is available in the current version of the Minitab Manual and the CrunchIt Manual: In StatsPortal, choose "Resources" and follow the links to each of these Manuals. The chapters mirror the textbook chapters, except that Chapter 1 of each Manual also includes Chapter 0 of the Manual, which gives some general information about how to get started with that software.
  (The CrunchIt Manual is new with this 6th edition, so it uses data from our text. The Minitab Manual has been used with previous editions and uses a variety of data sets. If you want to work with the data used to generate the examples in that manual, find it here: Data for Minitab Manual)
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Previous versions of the software:

• Minitab, versions 14, 15, and 16 work in the same way for all the commands relevant to our course. Help materials for any version will be good for you.
• CrunchIt versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 work differently. Version 3.0 was launched August 2012, so information written before that about CrunchIt may be confusing.

Help written by our faculty members

• Minitab Tips ( 4 pages, Encheva - updated Nov. 2012)
• Brief Guide (Cepparo - updated 2007)

Why use software in this course - and why this software?
Short answer: This course focuses on conceptual understanding. It is necessary to do some computations, but you need to spend your time and energy more on interpretations than long computations.
Minitab is software used by professional statisticians which is also fairly easy to learn to use. Crunch-It has a fairly similar user interface to Minitab and it comes with our text.

How to obtain the software.
Short answer: Use MINITAB at school. Use Crunch-It at home because it's included in the software you purchased for the course and will do the simpler tasks. Then use MINITAB in the school labs to demonstrate that you are learning it and to do the more complex problems.

Mary Parker, last updated January 6, 2014

Data from previous editions of our text: BPS 5th ed | BPS 4th ed