{
  "id": "1996-april-thats-stats",
  "slug": "1996-april-thats-stats",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-april-thats-stats.html",
  "year": 1996,
  "month": "April",
  "monthNum": 4,
  "headline": "That's stats",
  "kicker": "On the Internet",
  "author_name": "Andy Lehren",
  "author_title": "NICAR staff",
  "affiliation": "NICAR",
  "summary": "This article provides a comprehensive guide to online resources for learning statistics, including educational websites, courses, software tools, and reference materials designed specifically to help journalists understand and apply statistical concepts in their reporting.",
  "keywords": [
    "statistics",
    "journalism",
    "education"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Data & Databases",
    "Journalism & Newsroom",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "SPSS",
    "SAS",
    "SYSTAT",
    "Statistica",
    "KwikStat",
    "Xlisp-Stat",
    "StatView",
    "Internet",
    "World Wide Web"
  ],
  "full_text": "There's a good chance you can learn a few things about statistics on the Internet. It's just a matter of where you weigh in. A significant amount is at universities. Some of this has a tendency to drive beginners into fits of apoplectic boredom. Don't get mean. Odds are, if your patient, you'll get some good ideas for how statistics can help you're reporting.\n\nLearning about statistics\n\nA good starting point is Chance, designed to help teach statistics. For those who think number crunching has no place in the news, check out the archive of stories that use statistics. There's Stephen Jay Gould's \"The Median Isn't The Message,\" plus a lot more. Visit http://www.geom.umn.edu/docs/snell/chance/welcome.htm!\n\nFor reality checks, visit How to Avoid Lies and Damned Lies at http://maddog.fammed.wisc.edu/pitfalls/\n\nThere are a lot of college statistic classes with some course material on the Internet. Some are actually worthwhile. One of the best is at Arizona State University, with everything from a simple program you can download for free to help learn about probability, to a clear course outline that you can actually learn from. Don't miss its concise links collection, too. It's at http://olam.ed.asu.edu/-glass/502/home.html\n\nAnother good course is from Concordia University at http://artsci-ccwin.concordia.ca/inte/inte298s/courses/index.htm\n\nFrom the land down under, at the University of Newcastle, is http://frey.newcastle.edu.au/Stats/surfstat/noframes surfstat.html\n\nAmerican Demographics does a lively job analyzing numbers. Visit http://www.marketingtools.com/ad_current/default.htm\n\nA thorough dictionary of statistics is Prophet Statguide at http://www-prophet.bbn.com/statguide/sg_glos.htm Scroll through the interactive dictionary, or do keyword searches. A short list written for journalism students is at http://excellent.com.utk.edu/~foley/stat.html\n\nDownload a program that will help you learn exactly how regressions work, and how to run them. Visit Click&Learn Regression at http://nsns.com/click/ From there, you can get a program that will walk you through regression-and even quiz you along the way. The site offers a free demo. The full program is $49.\n\nFor an online book about probability, check out the University of Maryland's Resampling Project at http://www.statistics.com/text.html It offers clear writing about some basics in sampling and statistics.\n\nTooling around\n\nWhen it comes to getting the software to run statistical tests, the Internet harbors everything from freebie programs to how to contact the big software makers. For SPSS and SYSTAT, visit http://www.spss.com For SAS, go to http://www.sas.com/ For Statistica, go to http://www.statsoftinc.com/\n\nDownload and sample Resampling Stats software at http://www.statistics.com/software.html Right nearby, at http://www.statistics.com/resample/vendors.html, is a handy price guide for statistical software.\n\nGet a review copy of KwikStat at http://www.dfw.net/homepage/\n\nFor Xlisp-Stat, download free copies starting at http://stat.umn.edu/~rcode/xlispstat-resources.html#win31 For StatView, try http://www.abacus.com/\n\nThe Journal of Statistics Education Information Service offers a variety of services, including software and the ability to check the archives of SAS and SPSS listservs. It's at http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/pams/stat/info/infopage.html\n\nThe University of Minnesota's School of Statistics offers everything from free software to guides on running statistical tests at http://stat.umn.edu:80/ARCHIVES/archives.html\n\nFor those with time, check out extensive lists of universities and other organizations around the world that offer information on statistics at http://www.stat.cmu.edu/otherplaces/ Or try http://www.geom.umn.edu/docs/snell/chance/sources.html\n\nAndy Lehren can be reached at (573) 882-0684, or send e-mail to andy@nicar.org",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
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