Vista: a software for teaching statistics and psychometrics

Main Article Content

Rubén Daniel Ledesma
Pedro Valero-Mora
Gabriel Jesús Molina

Abstract

Nowadays, teaching statistics is almost undisputedly always done using some sort of software for carrying out the computations. Indeed, the range of choices available for that purpose is wide and with a lot of variety. The present work describes the capabilities of one of the systems currently available for teaching of statistics: ViSta, the Visual Statistics System. As ViSta’s developers, we wish to point out the following features as specially appealing for using it at the classroom: a) price and availability, it is free and can be downloaded on-line; b) flexibility, it is an open system, extensible and adaptable for different users and needs; c) simplicity, it has a simple and intuitive user interface that facilitates the management, transformation and data analysis; and d) its graphical power, as it implements visualization methods that allow carrying out demonstrations of concepts and data analysis techniques. These capabilities are illustrated using a specific application to the teaching of psychometrics. The limitations and perspectives of development of the system are finally discussed.

Article Details

How to Cite
Vista: a software for teaching statistics and psychometrics. (2010). Argentinean Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 52-59. https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v2.n2.5263
Section
Technical or Methodological Articles
Author Biography

Rubén Daniel Ledesma, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas.

How to Cite

Vista: a software for teaching statistics and psychometrics. (2010). Argentinean Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 52-59. https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v2.n2.5263

References

CDC-Centers for Disease Control And Prevention (2000). EpiInfo 2000. Manual de usuario. Atlanta: CDC.

Cook, R. D., y Weisberg, S. (1999). Applied regression including computing and graphics. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Ledesma, R.D. (2004). Sistemas estadísticos de propósitos múltiples: una revisión de programas gratuitos. Metodología de Encuestas, 6 (2), 105-117

Ledesma, R.D., y Molina, J.G. (2009). Classical Item and Test Analysis with Graphics: the ViSta-CITA Program. Behavior Research Methods, 41 (4), 1161-1168.

Ledesma, R., Molina, J.G., Valero-Mora, P., y Poó (2007). Software estadístico de libre acceso en Psicología. Una librería de módulos para el sistema ViSta. Evaluar, 7, 19-33.

Miller, W. G. (2003). OpenStat 3 [programa informático] [en línea] Disponible: URL: http://www.statpages.org/miller/openstat/OS3.html

R Development Core Team (2002). R1.7.1 [programa informático] [en línea], Disponible: URL: http://www.rproject.org/SPSS Inc. (2003) SPSS 12.0 Base user's guide. NJ: Prentice Hall

StataCorp LP (2009) Stata 11. Base Reference Manual. TX: Stata Corporation, University Dr East. Statsoft Inc. (2005). Statistica Base [programa informático]. Disponible: http://www.statsoft.com

Tierney, L. (1990) Lisp-Stat An object-oriented environment for statistical computing and dynamic graphics. NY: John Wiley & Sons.

UNESCO (2002). WinIDAMS Reference Manual. 6ta. edición. París: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Young, F. W. (1996) ViSta: The Visual Statistics System. UNC L.L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory, Research Memorandum 94-1, 1996.

Young, F. W., Valero-Mora, P., y Friendly, M. (2006). Visual Statistics. Seeing data with dynamic interactive graphics. NJ: Wiley & Sons.

Young, F. W., Valero-Mora, P., Faldowski, R. y Bann, C. M. (2003). Gossip: The arquitecture of spreadplots. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 12, 80–100.