Statistical Software in the Human Services

Abstract

This article reviews past uses of statistical software in human services organizations and surveys recent developments in the software and its modern substitutes. It proposes four computer literacy standards for human services professionals: (The ability to) (1) choose appropriate software for data analysis tasks, (2) build and analyze small, user-generated data sets, (3) read and analyze external, machine-readable data, and (4) read and analyze internal, machine-readable data. The author concludes that developments in statistical and substitute software have greatly expanded data analysts' options for working with both internal and external data. The developments should help human services pioneers explore both the old frontier of “data rich, information poor” organizations and the new frontier of decision support and expert systems.

Key Words:

• Computers
• statistical software
• computer literacy
• data analysis
• human services
• professional education