ActivStats is a "complete" interactive elementary statistics
course on CD.
--It comes in a "generic" form, which includes, teaches and
uses
DataDesk statistical software. This is on the Intro Stats
disk which should be bound into your text near the back.
--It also comes as ActivStats for SPSS which
teaches and uses
SPSS statistical software.
This came in a separate box with new textbooks sold at Wells, and there
may still be some around. The contents are the "same" except for the
SPSS/DataDesk parts which
analyze datasets. I will teach SPSS as if you don't have
ActivStats for SPSS, but some have found it a helpful aid with
SPSS. Several ActivStats for SPSS disks are on reserve in
Long Library.
--They say it'll just work if you stick it in the
computer. Probably.
--You need a computer with a sound card, speakers and/or a place to
plug
in your headphones (where speakers would go), and QuickTime
software. And something to store files on, if using lab
computers.
--The SPSS version only works on Windows PC's. The Generic
version (Intro Stats) works on Macs also (it says.)
You can fully
use ActivStats Generic on any computer; it contains DataDesk. You
can use ActivStats for SPSS on any computer, but won't be able to carry
out the SPSS tutorials except
on a computer with SPSS software installed. SPSS is only on the
computers in Mac 101 and in the Social Sciences Lab, Mac
304. We'll go into the
lab as a class to introduce SPSS in a few days; you don't have to
do the SPSS tutorials now.
Mostly the Activstats program just opens when you stick it in the CD
drive. If
not, open the drive directory; find and double click on the ActivStats.exe
Application file (icon: Blackboard with colored bar graph).
Launch Activstats
Make a new student file. Be
sure to have Intro Stats as Supplementary Text;
otherwise chapters
will be in wrong order! (If you use -DVB at the end of the serial
number, this will be taken care of automatically.)
Name will become the name of the file when you save it.
Opening your saved file will return you to the state you left in.
Do Ch. 1,
Introduction. Save your student
file. You can "save as" different filenames as you work; when you
open a file the program will return to the place/state you last saved
it in.
Do Ch. 2, Data & Measurement
Do the Circle
Experiment, p. 2-3 top (2-2 top in SPSS version. )
and Save your results (preferably in
the same directory as your student file). You'll need it later in
the term. It will be a text
file (ending in .dat if your computer shows this).
Open it in Word or other text editor (look for
Circle.dat under All Files) Each
row's data are separated by a Tab; it should be in nice columns but it
probably isn't. Select the whole document (Ctrl-A). Change the
Font to Times New Roman, and the Size to 10 or less, and the
correct header should now be over each nice column.
A) Print the data out, bring to class, with
"questions you could
ask about
your performance".
Using SPSS/DataDesk to look at your
data (rest of p. 2) is
optional.
Remember, variables hold measured information on individual cases. In
this dataset we measured:
Variables:
* the time between mouse clicks (time)
* the size of the circle (size)
* the distance between the circles (distance)
* by how much you missed the center of the circle (missBy)
* whether the trial was for your right or left hand (hand)
* the color of the circle recorded in text (color)
* and as an index number (color Index)
* the distance in the x direction between the two circles (dX)
* the distance in the y direction between the two circles (dY).
B) Which are quantitative, which categorical ? To HAND
IN, part of Day 1 HW.
Activstats Problems/Questions?
QuickTime: If you don't have it,
ActivStats will tell you,
and tell you how to install it from the CD. It's good to have
anyhow.
No sound thru headphones? Check that you've plugged them
in to the hole(s) for computer sound output, not the little hole that
many CD drives
have. In most Dell lab machines, lift the front
"apron"--it's under there. On you own, you may need to go to the
speaker holes.
Lost Serial Number? Trouble. If
you have a student file made with the CD, you can just open that, save
as many copies/names as you like. Moral: Keep safe the serial
number and/or a file made with the CD. Student files don't appear
to be transferable CD to CD.
Rather read than listen? (or read along with the sound):
Most expositions can be read: do
Exposition>Show Exposition Text from the top menu bar.
Want it All the time? Edit>Preferences:
Checkbox 'Show exposition text first'
Hate those page-turning sounds? Edit>Preferences:
Checkbox
'Disable sounds'
Typeface too big/small? ? Edit>Preferences:
Font size (12 is default)
Some “movies” inside Activstats are silent?
(p.4-1 Soldiers is the first)
You need to change the QuickTime Sound Out setting
to WaveOut,
not DirectSound:
(Wells lab machine, not your own? Send an email with the machine
name, this problem, to flacomb@wells.edu.) You can read
the narration from the silent movie by doing Exposition>Show
Exposition Text from the top menu bar.
Find the QuickTime Settings
file. In Windows 98, this is in the Control Panel folder
(under Settings on the Start Menu, or in the MyComputer window.
Its name is just QuickTime. Its description is “Configures
QuickTime software and hardware components.” )
Click on it to open it. Use the drop-down
arrow to find the SoundOut option. Click it, and choose WaveOut
as the Device for Playback. The other options should be OK.
Headphone cable too short to reach the hole in your computer?
You need an extension cable. See me.
Want to listen/work simultaneously with another person (same
computer)? Need a splitter. See me.
Using SPSS version, rather than DataDesk version?
Some activities might be slightly rearranged, a page before or
after the DataDesk version's. The chapters will cover the same
stuff.
DataDesk is a very nice statistical package, and you get the
student version free on the disk bound in your book. Totally
optional to learn it. Some sections are set up so you can see
results without having to create them. Worth getting used to it
for that. I've occasionally found it cranky,
even when I thought I did exactly what they said. Don't worry;
get what you can from what does work for you. Bring the problem
to me, or let it go. All packages know when you're "new" and try
to frustrate you; later the problems seem to melt away...