A review of user-friendly freely-available statistical analysis software for medical researchers and biostatisticians

Abstract

Most experimental medical research, if not all of it, heavily relies on statistical analysis. The difficulty of using statistical software is one of the key reasons why many researchers struggle with the data analysis stage. In this article, I discuss some of the user-friendly statistical programs that are accessible for free and ease data analysis for medical researchers and biostatisticians. Researchers can choose the best software by considering the descriptions of the programs, the statistical tests and features offered in each, the graphical features of each, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Also, I will mention different references to help researchers use each statistical software adequately. Of note, this article reviews 7 statistical programs for use in medical research, namely JASP, Jamovi, BlueSky Statistics, Epi Info, Statistics Kingdom (web-based), SOFA Statistics, PSPP, and G*Power. For basic and common statistical tests, all the programs mentioned are useful and sufficient to complete the data analysis process. However, the best programs for advanced statistical methods are JASP, Jamovi, and BlueSky Statistics. G*Power is the program of choice for sample size and power analyses.

Keywords:

• Biostatistics
• data
• medical research
• software
• statistical analysis

Disclosure statement

The author declares no conflict of interests.