Computer Environments for the Social Sciences CS&SS 594

Links to resources

Learning about R

• Introduction to R: A great list of resources for learning R
• Rweb Tutorial: An excellent interactive tutorial in R (by D. Drake)

• An Introduction to Splus/R: A web-based short introduction
• Statistical Data Analysis in R: A web-based complete set of documentation (very good)

• Using R for data analysis and graphics [pdf (693k; 112 pgs)] (JH Maindonald)
• R for beginners [pdf (149k; 31 pgs)] (Emmanuel Paradis)
• R reference card [pdf (59k, 1 pg)] (J Baron)
• The R manuals:
• An introduction to R [pdf (622k; 105 pgs)] (The official introduction)
• Writing R extensions [pdf (425k; 69 pgs)] (Explanations of writing packages and calling C from R)
• The R reference index [pdf (5.2M; 1046 pgs)] (The R help pages printed out)

· Background notes on R and the Omegahat Project Brian Ripley’s wisdom

Downloading and Installing R on your computer

To download R go to CRAN (the Comprehensive R Archive Network) at

http://cran.r-project.org

or one of the mirror sites listed there. In particular the US mirror is

http://cran.us.r-project.org

Follow the instructions on the CRAN web pages. There are precompiled binaries for various forms of Windows (95, 98, NT, and 2000) and various forms of UNIX (including Linux).

Downloading R for Windows

Go to

http://cran.us.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/

read the ReadMe files there and follow the instructions.

Rweb: A Web based interface to R where you can run snippets of R code and see the output.

Online reviews and courses in algebra and calculus useful for social scientists

• Algebra Review in 10 Lessons: An excellent online course in useful algebra. Starts by setting up the environment, exponents and radicals, basic algebra, expansions, dividing and factoring polynomials, solving equations and inequalities, the Cartesian coordinate system and functions, trigonometric, first and second degree curves Nice text-like development and examples; highly recommended. (Netscape recommended)
• Concepts of Algebra: An online tutorial course in the concepts of algebra, algebraic factoring, radicals and exponents, logarithms and exponentials Great questions and interactive solutions; not too much theory.
• Introduction to SAS: Some lecture notes in college algebra: multiplication, division and factoring of polynomials, exponents, radicals, rational exponents, quadratic equations and equations with radicals A good alternative to the Algebra Review in 10 lessons.

• e-Calculus: An outstanding online course in calculus: functions, limits, continuity, differentiation, and integration. all you need on calculus. (Netscape recommended)

Using UNIX/LINUX for Social Science Computing

• Introduction to UNIX: My notes on UNIX, cribbed from local and remote sources
• Software on Goodall and Mead: Student Uniform Access UNIX machines

Interesting Links (with thanks to Bob Heckard, Penn State University)

In the Current News: Surveys, Observational Studies, and Randomized Experiments

• HyperStat: an online statistics reference that provides multiple perspectives and styles.

• Gallup Polls: The Gallup Organization’s site. Frequent updating with current polls and good archive of polls conducted in last few years.
• PollingReport.com   A collection of recent poll results on business, politics and society from many different sources.

• National Council on Public Polls Excellent article entitled "20 Questions a Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results
• National Opinion Research Center A research center that conducts many scientific polls.

• USA Today Internet Polls about Health   USA Today Health Index.  An archive of past health stories reported in the USA Today newspaper.

• CNN Polling Details : A Frequently Asked Questions page explaining how CNN polls are usually conducted.

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/datadir.htm   A set of links to all of the major polls (USA Today, CNN, NY Times, ABC, Gallup Poll , ...). Maintained by The Washington Post.

Survey Methodology

• http://www.publicagenda.org  Nice discussions of issues connected to surveys on “hot” public issues (abortion, crime, etc.). In particular, click on “Red Flags” for each issue to see examples of how question wording, survey timing, and so on affect survey results.
• http://whyfiles.news.wisc.edu/009poll/index.html  University of Wisconsin Why Files on Polling. Discusses basic polling principles.
• http://www.ncpp.org/qajsa.htm , and also at http://www.publicagenda.org/aboutpubopinion/aboutpubop1.htm  “20 Questions A Journalist Should Ask About A Poll.” Informative article from the National Council on Public Polls.

General Resource Sites

• Chance News : A newsletter of miscellaneous media items useful for class discussion.
• Archive of Mathematical Mistakes : Collection of examples of ways people misinterpret numbers. Many of the examples are statistical.
• The Junk Science Home Page : The name of the site says it all. The author’s of this site show no mercy in his criticisms of topical research studies.
• The Skeptics Society: A society committed to empirical and scientific approaches. Opinionated and insightful.
• How Numbers Are Tricking You   Examples of misleading statistics.

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