Pages: starting an analysis
Each question produces a page in the notebook. The steps:
- "New analysis" (the plus to the right of the tabs): choose one of the question types.
- Fill the gaps of the sentence ("I want to know whether … differs depending on …"). Only columns that fit the question are offered.
- Read the checklist: green means fine, yellow is a note (e.g. small group), red blocks the calculation (too little data).
- "Calculate". Statable picks the procedure and explains under "Why this method?". "Show command" displays the PSPP syntax.
The finished page contains the result sentence, a chart, the key figures to explain, and "All numbers (output from PSPP)". Title and note can be changed; "In the report" adds the page to the report.
Calculate instantly (default): as soon as everything is chosen, Statable calculates by itself; there is no "Calculate" button. On a finished page, "Change columns and options" changes the question: the result recalculates with every change, debounced (after about 0.3 s of quiet). The old result stays and is dimmed meanwhile; "Recalculating …" appears only after about half a second; the result of an outdated calculation is never shown. If the data changes, the page recalculates when you come back to it. Methods that use R (multilevel model, meta-analysis) only recalculate by themselves once R is loaded; otherwise the button stays. If "Calculate instantly" is off in the settings, the "Calculate" or "Recalculate" button does it.
The mapping from question to procedure still needs approval by a statistics expert.