SOFA

Statistics Open For All

SOFA - Statistics Open For All
The user-friendly, open-source statistics,
analysis, and reporting package

Feature Highlights

Ongoing Development

SOFA Statistics is a new project and features are being added on an ongoing basis. Priority areas are being completed first. Where a feature is planned but not yet completed the Planned >> tag will be used. Subscribe to the SOFA blog Subscribe to SOFA news by rss to keep up-to-date.

Database Friendly

Many statistics programs make you import data from a database before you can use it. Not SOFA. You can connect directly to your database, and all its tables. Just give SOFA the login details. You can even edit data from within SOFA, or apply a simple data filter to focus on the subset of a table you are interested in. SOFA currently supports:

  • MySQL
  • Microsoft Access
  • SQLite
  • PostgreSQL
  • Microsoft SQL Server

Planned >> Oracle will also be supported and possibly more.

What if your project has data in more than one database? No problem. SOFA lets you work with any tables wherever they may be and whichever (supported) database type they are stored in.

Spreadsheet Friendly

Output

SOFA tabular output is already in a form that can be directly opened in MS Excel or pasted into OpenOffice Calc.

Importing

  • SOFA can import data from Excel spreadsheets into its built-in SQLite database (Windows only - but MS Office is not required).
  • Planned >> SOFA will also be able to import data from Open Office Calc.
  • Data in CVS format can be imported into SOFA Statistics.
  • All imported data can be viewed and edited within SOFA.

Data Entry Friendly

You can now add data directly to SOFA Statistics by configuring new tables in the built-in SQLite database and adding data directly to them. It is also possible to redesign and delete tables.

Output You Can Share Easily

Tabular output is in HTML, which means you can put it directly on your intranet or website, or put it in a spreadsheet.

Planned >> SOFA will have attractive, high quality charts that can be resized without becoming grainy.

Beauty - Attractive Output

Beautiful output is a feature, even in a statistics/analysis program! It means that SOFA output can be used for presentations or automated reporting without manual formatting or reworking. Many statistical programs do not place much emphasis on aesthetics.

Main Tests and Measures Made Easy

Most analysis uses a small subset of all available statistical options. The goal of SOFA Statistics is to make this subset as easy to use as possible.

SOFA will make it easy to conduct and report on the use of:

  • Row and column percentages, with the ability to nest variables e.g look at Ethnicity and Gender vs Age
  • Mean
  • Median
  • Standard Deviation
  • Sum
  • N items
  • Pearson's Chi-Square with Contingency Tables
  • Independent samples t-test
  • Paired samples t-test
  • One-way ANOVA
  • Mann Whitney U
  • Wilcoxon Signed Ranks
  • Kruskal Wallis H
  • Pearson's Correlation
  • Spearman's Correlation

Planned >> SOFA will allow plugin extensions to add extra tests.

Learn As You Go

A central goal of SOFA Statistics is to make Statistics Open For All. Secondary school students, for example, should be able to use SOFA to learn more about statistics. And other users will also benefit from the educational orientation of the program.

Planned >> SOFA will try to expose its workings as much as possible

SOFA helps users make the correct choice of test in a graphical, interactive way.

Histogram with normal distribution curve

SOFA will supply visual and numerical tests which let the user know if a test is suitable for the data they are working with. Users can now view graphs showing the distribution of a selected variable against a normal distribution curve; histograms for independent t-tests and ANOVAs; and scatterplots for Pearson's and Spearman's correlation analyses.

When making tables, SOFA lets users see the impact of configuration changes in a demonstration table before running the actual analysis.

Automated Reporting

SOFA lets users export Python scripts for use in their own simple (or complex) reporting programs. Imagine running a detailed monthly report for management with a single script. Python was originally designed with beginner programmers in mind and has a gentle learning curve. Novices can become productive very soon. Python is included in the installation process and is free and open source.

Speaking your language

Support for internationalisation has been added. The first language out of the block is Galician, thanks to the efforts of Indalecio Freiría Santos. This feature is not currently working in Windows but Ubuntu users can benefit immediately. Many more translations are planned.