These data sets can be extremely confusing, and they can be misleading at times. Even if you follow the instructions of the package that you downloaded from the internet, you may still wind up being surprised by something you found out. You may be curious as to why these numbers differ from one person to another, or why your results vary from time to time. This is why statistical inference and regression analysis are so important.
When I was in medical school, a professor once told us that his preferred method of statistical inference and regression analysis was to do it the “Statistical Method” way. In other words he would just look over the data set and determine which statistics would fit best with the data. He would then use those statistics to make an educated guess as to what the outcome of the patient’s illness might be. This was extremely time consuming and enormously inaccurate. Therefore, he preferred to rely on other methods of statistical inference and regression analysis.
Luckily, today we have much more powerful computers than we had in the days of Dr. Wood. They are so powerful that some professors are able to perform statistical inference and regression analysis without ever lifting their hands or looking at the screen. However, that doesn’t mean that it is impossible to do on your own. You can learn enough about statistical analysis to at least get a rough idea of how to do it yourself. If you find that you have some extra time, you could also teach yourself how to do some of the more complicated regression analyses.
If you want to do some regression analysis on your own, you will need some statistical packages to help you. The package you choose will depend greatly upon the nature of the question you are answering. For example, if you are just trying to determine the relationship between a variable x and a variable y, then the relationship between the variables must be significant (posterior predictive). Therefore, you will not be able to run a non-parametric test. In order to take your statistical inference and regression test to the next level, you will need to incorporate a parametric model into your model.
One of the best packages for regression analysis is called Ranged Regression Software (RDSR). It is available from the Statistical Analysis Software Interpreters (SAS Institute). However, before you begin using RDSR, make sure you know how to do the basic regression analyses by yourself. This way you can save your time by using the SAS distribution.
If you would like to select a sample for regression, then you should know how to run the SAS sample analysis. The procedure is as follows. Create a data frame with data from which you want to estimate the association between a predictor variable and an explanatory variable. Next, select the predictors that are normally distributed and include them as part of the sample.
When you have finished preparing for your statistical inference and regression course, you will probably find that you spend much less time on regression analysis. However, there will still be a number of other topics that you will need to understand. You also need to know how to interpret the results from your regression estimation results. Therefore, it is very important that you have a thorough understanding of both the statistical formulae and the assumptions that you have used in your regression model. Once you know how to interpret your results, you will be well on your way to taking my statistical inference and regression examination.
