SPSS vs Stata

For technology evolution, data is generated for every little thing and a record is kept which can be useful in the future for organizations. Data analysis is a great part of any organization. It is a process of collecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling of data. Now the question arises what is statistical data analysis? So, basically, it is a tool that analyses a huge amount of data and then converts them into meaningful information. Both SPSS and Stata are the tools used for statistical data analysis, but they are different in various concepts. Let us learn about that in the further article.

What is SPSS?

SPSS stands for “Statistical Package for Social Science”, which was developed by IBM in 1968 and is termed as one of the oldest software. It can handle a large amount of datasets in an efficient manner. It is a quite flexible tool to use. It offers the best user interface. Also, it offers tables and charts for reporting. It works on all Operating systems (WINDOWS, LINUX, and MacOS) and is written in JAVA language.

Advantages

• SPSS is quite easy to use due to its GUI features.
• It is quite popular in the market for its faster and data accurate results, all because of its in-depth analysis of data.
• It keeps track of the location of objects and variables.
• It is quick and easy to learn about this software.

Disadvantages

• It is basically made for large-scale industries as it is quite expensive to use.
• It has a limited storage facility. Also, it has limited functionality.

What is Stata?

Stata is a statistical software developed by StataCorp in 1985. It is used for data manipulation and visualization and is used by many researchers in many fields. It works on all Operating systems (WINDOWS, LINUX, and MacOS). This software does not come with a free version but it does offer a free trial for customers. It was written and implemented in C language. It is termed the most user-friendly data analysis software and is quite popular in the social sciences.

Advantages

• It has a user-friendly interface.
• It is quite easy to learn. Also, there are many resources available on online platforms to learn about this software.
• To use the tool, the user does not need to be an expert researcher.
• It permits the users to manage, analyze, and generate graphical visualizations of data.

Disadvantages

• It is limited to certain types of data.
• It does not offer a free version for use.

Difference between SPSS and Stata

Conclusion

For complex data analysis, SPSS can be used and is a better option if one wants high productivity and outputs in generating data reports, Stata is considered and recommended choice. Both the software have its own advantages and disadvantages and the selection of software totally depends on the user according to their requirements.