[BlindMath] Scatter Plots for Regression Analysis

Wed Jan 10 21:22:12 UTC 2018

Hi Dickson,

I'm a blind computer scientist and Director of Accessibility here at SAS. I use SAS Graphics Accelerator to create, explore, and share scatter plots and many other types of graphs. I have included links to resources for students below. All of these resources are free and completely self-service so you don't need to wait for permission from your professor or university IT department. 

I don't monitor this list on a daily basis so please email accessibility at sas.com if you have questions.

Best,
Ed

These products have been tested on Google Chrome with JAWS 18 on Windows 10.

First, install SAS Graphics Accelerator for Chrome so You can import small data sets and then create, explore, and share simple graphs. 
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sas-graphics-accelerator/ockmipfaiiahknplinepcaogdillgoko

See this page for more information about SAS Graphics Accelerator including the user's guide, getting started videos, sample graphs, etc:
http://support.sas.com/software/products/graphics-accelerator/

If you need more power you will need to step up to a more powerful application. We make several industrial-strength applications available to students at no cost. You can access them by registering for SAS OnDemand for Academics using the link below. Follow the instructions for "independent learners":
http://support.sas.com/software/products/ondemand-academics/#s1=2

After you complete registration, sign in to the Control Center and activate the link for SAS Studio. SAS Studio is a browser-based integrated development environment that you can use to analyze data, create graphs, etc.

Here's the help page for accessibility features of SAS Studio   ... please make sure you set the preferences that are recommended in the Tips for screen readers section:
http://go.documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=webeditorcdc&cdcVersion=3.6&docsetId=webeditora11y&docsetTarget=sasstudioa11ywinosx.htm&locale=en

Furthermore, make sure the following settings have been disabled in the Editor tab within the Preferences dialog box within SAS Studio:
* Enable auto complete
* Enable hints
* Substitute spaces for tabs
* Enable color coding
* Show line numbers

Here's the general help information, i.e. not specific to accessibility,  for SAS Studio version 3.6 which is the version you will access:
http://support.sas.com/documentation/onlinedoc/sasstudio/#studio36

Check out the free and accessible e-Learning courses that can help you learn the basics of SAS. I recommend SAS Programming 1 and Statistics 1. You can access them here:
https://www.sas.com/en_us/learn/academic-programs/resources/free-sas-e-learning.html

You may have questions along the way. Find answers on the Analytics U community site:
https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Analytics-U/bd-p/sas_analytics_u

You can email questions about accessibility to accessibility at sas.com. 

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Godfrey, Jonathan via BlindMath
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 3:47 PM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Godfrey, Jonathan <A.J.Godfrey at massey.ac.nz>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Scatter Plots for Regression Analysis

EXTERNAL

Hi Dickson,

In the JSS paper, Theodor provided a heap of instructions for making SAS more accessible. SAS also has a decent support system. SPSS is GUI but does have a syntax beneath the GUI. I assume the staff for that course will know how to get at SPSS output sufficiently to help you out.

A regression course without software sounds like going on holiday without a credit card to me; sure, you could do it, but life with a decent substitute  for piles of paper is so much easier. I am willing to bet that even if the students don't explicitly use software, that the course staff will do so to generate graphs and the output needed for testing and assessment. I suggest that a chat with both teaching teams is on the cards.

N.B. I am finding it very difficult to suppress my natural inclination to mention the dark ages and stone tablets right now. <smiles>

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dickson Tan via BlindMath
Sent: Thursday, 11 January 2018 9:32 a.m.
To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics' <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Dickson Tan <dickson.tan.2013 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Scatter Plots for Regression Analysis

Hi Jonathon,

Thanks for those great resources - will go through them more thoroughly after some sleep.

I'm actually taking 2 courses. For the first, computer-aided data analysis, I'll be using R, SPSS 24 and SAS 9.4. The second is a regression analysis course and I don't think there's any software usage involved for that one.

Best regards,
Dickson

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Godfrey, Jonathan via BlindMath
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2018 4:19 AM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Godfrey, Jonathan <A.J.Godfrey at massey.ac.nz>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Scatter Plots for Regression Analysis

Hello,

You haven't stated which software your course is using, but as will come to no surprise to most list members, I will promote R for the most part. I will recommend other software in some circumstances (usually if it is the right software being used by the class and adequate support is available). I seem to have missed my tenth anniversary for doing so on this list somehow.

Anyway, in addition to the base distribution of R, you will find the tools offered through my add-on package (called BrailleR; watch the caps because they are important in R) useful for doing a regression course. I suggest that using any other software will mean you will have to rely much more heavily on sighted assistance.

I recommend that you and the teaching team meet to discuss how you will complete the course. As part of the preparation for that meeting, I recommend that all of you take a read of two articles written by me and the only other totally blind person to gain employment as a lecturer in a statistics department.
Godfrey, A. J. R. and M. T. Loots (2014, July). Statistical software (R, SAS, SPSS, and Minitab) for blind students and practitioners. Journal of Statistical Software, Software Reviews 58(1), 1-25.
   Godfrey, A. J. R. and M. T. Loots (2015, November). Advice from blind teachers on how to teach statistics to blind students. Journal of Statistics Education 23(3), 1-28.

Links to pre-print versions more readable with a screen reader are:
   https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/papers/JSE.v23.n3
and
   https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/papers/JSS.v58.s1

A third paper, not written by me is noteworthy as it shows what was done for one student taking a regression course.
Erhardt, R. J. and Shuman, M. P. (2015), 'Assistive technologies for second-year statistics students who are blind', Journal of Statistics Education [Online] 23(2).
URL: http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v23n2/erhardt.pdf

Then, if you do choose to use R as the preferred software, you will probably want to make use of the resources at
   https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/papers/JSE.v23.n3
    especially the e-books at
   https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/papers/JSE.v23.n3LURNBlind
and
   https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/papers/JSE.v23.n3BrailleRInAction

Cheers,
Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Susan Osterhaus via BlindMath
Sent: Thursday, 11 January 2018 8:34 a.m.
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Susan Osterhaus <osterhauss at tsbvi.edu>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Scatter Plots for Regression Analysis

The Orion TI-84+ from APH and Orbit Research's collaboration can do regression analysis. Our high school students use this accessible calculator for such tasks. However, we are able to obtain these calculators for our students with federal quota monies, and therefore it is an affordable user-friendly method. I believe Jonathan Godfrey (also a member of this
list) is the expert on using the R statistical software, which might interest you.

Susan

Susan A Osterhaus
Statewide Mathematics Consultant
Texas School for the Blind
  And Visually Impaired
1100 West 45th Street
Austin, TX 78756
susanosterhaus at tsbvi.edu
www.tsbvi.edu/math
www.tsbvi.edu/selected-topics/mathematics

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dickson Tan via BlindMath
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 11:24 AM
To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Dickson Tan <dickson.tan.2013 at gmail.com>
Subject: [BlindMath] Scatter Plots for Regression Analysis

Hi,

Apologies for bringing up a topic that must have been covered before, but the lack of a search functionality in the list archives makes it unuseable for referring to past discussions on a specific topic.

I'm taking a course on regression analysis, and my professor said that "
There are quite a number of plots throughout the course as scatter plots are very important parts in finding an appropriate model, a suitable transformation and in checking for assumption based on the residuals."

Does anyone have ideas on how to deal with these or possible alternatives for assessment purposes?

Thanks

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