Site Philosophy

General Information

This site is intended to provide information that may be useful to those who apply statistical methods in their work. It was originally developed as a convenience for me and those with whom I worked. The material on this site is prioritized based on what might be useful for whatever group with whom I am currently working. I have made the site generally available to anyone in the event that it can also be useful to others.

How is the content chosen or developed?

  • I use content from references that I have studied or with which I am otherwise familiar. The pages of Books and Data Sets list those that I have studied and that had information or material for practical application that I wanted to share.

  • I try to not reinvent the wheel. Where there are other sites that have information, tools, learning aids, and such that I feel might be useful, I include their links on this site. I have a general parking lot for these links (Miscellaneous Links), and as time permits I include the relevant links on pages that specifically deal with a particular topic. I always try to give credit or attribution where it is due.

What this site is

This site is intended to provide information oriented toward practical application of various statistical methods. The information includes:

  • select elements of the theory behind the methods,

  • various assumptions and related diagnostic methods to check validity of assumptions,

  • notes on study designs, practical application, pitfalls to avoid, and

  • examples, data-sets, and some analysis files to support training in practical application.

The information is intended to serve as an online reference and repository that facilitates (1) designing a study or an experiment, (2) performing an analysis, (3) providing instruction on various topics, and (4) serving as a repository for current thinking regarding application issues.

As the site develops, the examples will be based (at least initially) on either Statistica or R. Some SAS code is also available for certain applications.

Note:

All examples provided are intended to be generic (i.e. based on data and case studies from a textbook, "sanitized" data, or based on data that is generally available to all). This site is not intended to store or share unsanitized (e.g. not transformed or otherwise altered or relabeled to protect company interests) company confidential information.

What this site is not

This site is not intended to provide comprehensive, complete theory and information regarding any of the methods listed. There are many text books and resources, including online, that already do this. Links are provided to what are, in my humble opinion, a few of the more reputable and useful sites with reliable information.

The information on this site is no substitute for consultation with a degreed statistician who works in the area of application that is of interest.

Why the name "statrefs"?

The site was formerly named 'statwiki'. The name was changed in 2016 for various reasons.

The site content is related to statistical theory and application, and the site itself is built using Google Sites, Google's version of a Wiki engine. And mostly because nothing better came to mind.

For a basic reference on Wikis, see Wikis For Dummies (Woods), or see the Wikipedia entry for "Wiki".