I’ve long been in search of a statistical tool that, well, does statistical analysis, but does so in a way that doesn’t require much by way of coding and whose output is intuitive. Above all, the idea behind distributions, and the ability to play around with distributions should become clearer for having used the software, and not the other way around.
If, as a bonus, it could give a visual representation of the solutions to your typical ‘normal distribution’ type problems from undergrad level textbooks – well, that would be awesome.
And it is early days yet, but JASP seems to be just that software. I learnt about it because of the magic of Twitter:
And much as I dislike the circus around the social media company these days, I still remain hopelessly addicted to the app. The benefits that I get by being a part of it still make it entirely worthwhile.
And well, I downloaded it (it’s free, do go ahead and give it a try), kicked the wheels for a bit, and it seems to be very good as a teaching tool for undergrad students. Not just undergrad students, I suppose – anybody who is relatively new to statistics will enjoy this software more than the alternatives when it comes to developing an intuitive feel for the subject.
This was one of the first videos that I saw, and it is reassuring to note that the learning curve is not steep.
I will be trying more things on this in the days to come, but in the meantime, if any of you have tried JASP in the past, and have resources to share, please do send them my way – I’ll update this blogpost.
Thank you!
EconForEverybody 