Preamble
Statistics
is present in research, educational, social, political, and economic
sectors of our society and constitutes an important tool for decision-making
at individual, local, national and international levels.
We need precise statistical methods to discuss the well-being of hypothesis and make predictions, to describe variability in a population or to infer whether differences among individuals, samples or populations are due to chance or not, and to estimate unknown-deductive constants, as well as to determine for a data set assertive limits (confidence levels, confidence intervals) within which the true value is more likely to fall. In fact, if research can be defined as the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data to answer a certain question or solve a problem, it is therefore clear that the backbone of research is statistics. Whether basic or fundamental research (necessary to generate new theories to address unresolved or potential problems) or applied or operational research (necessary to verify how efficiently already defined theories can help solving identified problems), statistics remains a key tool.
It is always difficult to separate statistics from probability and other mathematical theories, given that most of statistical laws have their roots in probabilistic theories. But nowadays, we do not need to be highly vested with those mathematical theories behind statistical formulae to use statistical tools. This is because the majority of commonly used statistical procedures have been simplified to arithmetic calculations. In fact, the development of statistical software that follows the development in electronic devices and computers have been of great contribution to the development of research and such software are always characterized by the patent simplification of long and complex mathematical theories to simple statistical calculations. However, it is important to be aware that accurate and sufficient knowledge of statistical theories and principles as well as satisfactory understanding of mathematics are necessary and always essential in the use of statistical software.
These facilities and simplifications in the application and use of statistical tools are of great advantage to research, because experts of various fields, without necessarily being professionals of statistical data analysis, have now developed themselves and have some familiarities with basic statistics, which they apply to their profession, and seek for the advice of professional statisticians only when really necessary, and can properly work with them in a participatory way if they so do. This enables them to collaborate better with professional statisticians who may not have sufficient ideas of their fields.
FASTDAM is aimed at satisfying your statistical requirements and has as main objective to provide researchers and students with a readily and practical skills for both qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
FASTDAM also encourages the use of professional data entry software such as Epi-Info 6.04d or versions with similar functionality for data entry and clean-up.
Statistical analysis is one of the key aspects of research from the beginning to the end. At the beginning, the research plan takes into account the type and the size of data to be analyzed and the statistical tool that will be used to analyze them. At the end, data will be analyzed, the statistical outputs interpreted, commented and discussed. FASTDAM ones more invites researchers and students to understand the roles of statistics at the various stages.
FASTDAM would be pleased to provides a self-guided tour of the essential areas covered by the systematic process of statistical analysis by emphasizing the general and specific needs and skills you require to exploit the numerous advantages offered by applied statistics to properly carry out your academic research as student and your research as professional or field expert. Courage!!!
News/Announcements
The first World Statistics Day (20-10-2010) was celebrated in over 130 countries and areas.
Paul Cheung, Director, United Nations Statistics Division took this opportunity to thank sincerely all the statistical offices and associations, international organizations, universities, civil society organizations and individuals that initiated, organized or took part in activities to celebrate this important Day. He was also grateful to the many countries and organizations which have sent congratulatory messages to UNSD.
Did You Know This?
Data entry in spread sheet is not highly recommended. A spread sheet is a table sheet like an Excel sheet in which data or records can be entered. A spread sheet is organized in rows and columns. It is called spread sheet because the sheet keeps extending as you enter data. An Excel sheet for instance can extend up to 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns. But it is difficult and error-prompt to enter data in a spread sheet. First of all it is more time consuming, second it is more tiring, and third the rate of entry error is higher. The rate of entry error is higher because the screen is congested with a mosaic of figures and lines all very close to each other. To palliate to these problems, a data entry template can be designed in professional entry software like Epi Info 6.04d or other versions. This software is designed by Center for Disease Control (CDC) and has been highly recommended by organizations that manage huge amount of data such as World Health Organization (WHO). This software offers a lot of advantages. The major advantage is that only one record is displayed at a time and the background color can be customized and set to blue for instance which automatically adjusts the brightness and contrast to minimize the stress to our sight. It is also easy to export data from Epi Info to other spread sheet applications or statistical software for analysis. You can freely merge data bases, check customize entries or validate duplicate entries. This software can be downloaded free. Some statisticians who are not aware of the existence of such software design their data entry template using other programs like Microsoft Office Access.
Events
The 20th Day of October: World Statistics Day.
Collaboration among researchers is one of the major factors that contributed to scientific revolution.
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