StatView

Key takeaways

StatView belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect StatView to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of StatView from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

StatView is a statistics application originally released for Macintosh computers in 1985 by Abacus Concepts, Inc.. StatView was one of the first statistics applications to have a graphical user interface, capitalizing on the Macintosh's built-in GUI.

Features

A user saw a spreadsheet of their data, comprising columns that could be integers, long integers, real numbers, strings, or categories, and rows that were usually cases (such as individual people for psychology data). Columns had informative headings; rows were numbered. Category data looked like strings (e.g., a column headed "sex" would have entries of "male" and "female", but these were coded by the application as integers). Category data were used to perform inferential statistical tests such as t-tests, ANOVAs, and chi-squared tests. To calculate statistics, a user clicked on particular column headings, designating them as an x value and one or more y values. Then the user used the application's menus to choose descriptive statistics or inferential statistics. For example, a user's spreadsheet might contain columns for names of a participant in a survey (a string), sex (a category variable), IQ (integer), and years using a PC (real). By designating number of years using a PC as an x variable and IQ as a y variable, the user could then choose from a menu to perform a regression. The user then had to choose from another menu how to view the regression in a separate window, either as a table, in which case the regression equation and ANOVA were displayed, or as a scattergram, in which case a graph of the data and the regression line were shown. Contents of the analysis window could be copied either as text or as a PICT.

Development StatView was originally developed by Jim Gagnon and Dan Feldman of Abacus Concepts, Inc., a software development company based in Berkeley, California, in 1984. The two founded Abacus Concepts chiefly to market StatView. They signed a contract with software publisher BrainPower Inc. of Calabasas, California, in 1985 for the latter to distribute StatView. Following the release of StatView 512+ (optimized for the Macintosh 512K) in 1986, Abacus broke from its agreement with BrainPower and began publishing updated versions of StatView on its own. Feldman alleged that BrainPower failed to properly market and support StatView to its customers, while BrainPower president Sherwin Steffin alleged that the split occurred due to a difference of opinion regarding StatView's feature set in newer versions. In 1988, Abacus introduced StatView SE+ Graphics. This version included ANOVA with one repeated-measure and, remarkably, a factor analysis. In print ads for StatView SE+ Graphics, Abacus explicitly discouraged readers from buying StatView 512+, which BrainPower continued to sell well after the release of SE+ Graphics, within the copy: "We wrote the award-winning StatView 512+ ... Please don't buy it". Following protracted legal battles, Abacus agreed to pay BrainPower back-royalties for every copy of SE+ Graphics sold. In October 1989, BrainPower began advertising a replacement for StatView by the name of Statalyzer. This triggered Abacus to file an injunction against BrainPower, citing a breach of their original contract's non-compete clause. The Alameda County Superior Court issued a restraining order against BrainPower in January 1990, preventing the company from marketing StatView. In May 1990, BrainPower Inc. exited the software industry amid its lawsuit with Abacus. In StatView 4, the user approach changed from clicking the to-be-analyzed data in the spreadsheet to clicking on column names in a separate window. This lack of immediacy was compensated for by an increase in the number of statistical tests that could be performed and in the power of existing tests. For example, multiway repeated-measures factors could be included in ANOVAs, with the only limit being the memory allocated to the application. There were ANCOVA and MANOVA too. StatView 4 also became available for PCs. StatView was acquired by the SAS Institute in 1997. The final version released was StatView 5.0. The company discontinued it in favor of JMP. A former StatView employee is sometimes able to rescue old data trapped in StatView formats and offers this service in exchange for charitable contributions to worthy causes.

References

Further reading Stein, Philip G.; Matey, James R.; Pitts, Karen (February 1997). "A Review of Statistical Software for the Apple Macintosh". The American Statistician. 51 (1): 67–82. doi:10.1080/00031305.1997.10473593. JSTOR 2684699.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with StatView

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what StatView claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to StatView before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about StatView ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of StatView

In research: StatView appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses StatView in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: StatView is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1985 software, Classic Mac OS software, Statistical software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for StatView outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study StatView in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what StatView means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain StatView out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is StatView in simple terms?

StatView is a statistics application originally released for Macintosh computers in 1985 by Abacus Concepts, Inc.. StatView was one of the first statistics applications to have a graphical user interface, capitalizing on the Macintosh's built-in GUI.

Why does StatView matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study StatView?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on StatView.