I've used Dedoose on my last project, relatively inexpensive and utilising cloud storage. Early versions were buggy but seems to run well now. Some useful analytics including word clouds.

Dear Alan,

I've heard there is an open source stats package called PSPP.

I would recommend R, since it is free, open source, cross-platform, and very powerful.

The drawback is that it is not easy to use at first.

One solution is to use a GUI for R.  One is R Commander, which is an R package, and another is Blue Sky statistics, which is commercial, but, at least in the U.S., has a free version.  Each of these has drop-down menus, so it is relatively easy to import data and perform simple analyses.  You'd have to check if their cross-tabs ability will meet what you need.

Another solution is to have very clear instructions with the relevant R code.

You might take a look at the following page and scroll down to Summarize in FSA, and see if this is the kind of analysis you are looking for.

http://rcompanion.org/handbook/C_02.html

Many thanks Simon, Peter and Salvatore - your suggestions are much appreciated!

Hi Alan,

As Peter suggests, PSPP is a nice option (It's flexible, stable and easy-to-use).

Other options are "Epi Info" ( https://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/index.html

"InfoStat") or Infostat (http://www.infostat.com.ar/index.php)

Best,

Ruben.

I would recommend PSPP as well

Thank you very much Ruben and Raphael.

I also recommend PSPP. I have worked with undergraduate social science students, and have found that SPSS (the expensive but powerful package the PSPP is based on) is very easy to pick up on from the get go, given the extensive point-and-click procedures and the even more extensive online community of SPSS users. PSPP is constantly being worked on to keep up with this beginner-friendly approach.

Thanks jj, good to know. Unfortunately my team builds capacity with people who are likely below undergraduate level, i.e. municipal technicians in Latin America who do not speak English and have no knowledge (or need of knowledge) of statistics. What I'm looking for is a very intuitive tool that does all the stats for you, and that is either free or very cheap! Marketsight is a great example of what I mean, but its above our budget.

That's an interesting project to hear about. My students are typically in your clients situation, no experience or need of experience in statistics, just click a few buttons and important information with real world meaning comes out. This can be as simple as frequency distributions (how many answered a certain question a certain way) to crosstabulations (how many of a certain group of people answered a question a certain way) all the way up through more advanced methods likely not needed to assess watershed issues. If you could provide a little more infoation about the type of data you will be collecting and what you would like to get out of it, I'd be happy to further assist.

Best,

JJ

Thanks JJ, that's very kind of you! I'm not sure this is the  right place to go into further discussion with you, but just briefly: Our clients are typically municipal or local authority tehnicians who we train to conduct social marketing-based projects for watershed management in the Andes. As project leaders, they need to go out and collect data on community levels of knowledge, attitude and practice at baseline and after their project has coursed 1 year of implementation. The data is then analysed via cross tabs mainly. To date we have always used a program called Surveypro, which is a one-stop-shop catering for all steps of survey work, including basic cross tab analysis with chi square. The problem with Surveypro for us, is that it still relies on paper surveys (version 3, which we use) or online (version 5) but not mobile tools such as Android phones. I am thus seeking the best options to combine a leaner front-end experience for our users whilst also simplifying the analysis they need to do, without losing the vital cross tab + stats (chi square) functionality. We train our clients throughout this process, hence the need for tools that are simple and cost-effective.

If you'd like to follow up further, perhaps my email would be the best way: [email protected]

Thanks so much, looking forward to hearing back from you!

Alan

Allan

The easiest way to run analysis of survey data is actually to use SPSS. The SPSS program of any version is a versatile tool that can easily produce cross-tables and perform several other tests. I am not sure whether you know how to use it but any statistician worth his/her name can be able to assist you carry out your data analysis with this suggested tool. I wish you well.

Many thanks David.

To all who  kindly answered this question and who may be interested, I have just found a tool called QestionPro that has a non-profit waiver program covering mobile survey data collection all the way to frequency and cross tab analysis. I am still waiting to hear back from them on some clarifying questions, but I'm putting it out there also in case anyone else in this community has used them.

There is a free program called R. It requires coding, but is easy to use once you get the hang of it. Download R Couch in addition to R; makes R more user friendly. Kinda like Microsoft Office compared to the very early computers which only had dos.  

Thanks Sarah, I had written R off as too unfriendly for our uses, but I'll have a look at the couch version!