I recently received a request for information about the available data tabbing (cross-tab, table generating) software that is available out there and thought I might share what I know. Personally I was a little surprised that there aren’t more software packages out there that do this kind of work — the ones that are available are fairly expensive.
The idea of this type of software is that you can take a data set (perhaps in SPSS format or some other standard or not so standard format) and almost automatically generate tables for each of the questions in the dataset. Usually each table would feature a number of columns representing different market segments (the "banner") while the various responses to each question would be shown in each row.
Such software is usually capable of automatically doing various statistical tests, sometimes including but not necessarily limited to t-tests, z-test, ANOVA and Chi-Square. Some programs can also weight and sort the data, as well as merge data sets, provide sample balancing, generate charts to go with each table, and provide output into a number of different formats ranging from text files to Excel spreadsheets to Powerpoint templates.
WinCross is perhaps the most well known of the bunch, and has been around a long time (it is presently at version 7). It is entirely compatible with SPSS 15.0, allows for 32,000 data columns and up to 3,000 rows per table; offers a number of different statistical tests; and can important export in a number of formats. My biggest complaint is that the user interface seems like it was developed about 10 years ago, and that it costs $1,995 per copy (the more copies you buy, the less it costs). Learn more at the WinCross web site.
Version 2 of GMI Research Analyzer was recently released by Global Market Insite. It will also take your data set, crosstab it, create reports, and export it into a number of different formats — but it also allows you to do drag-and-drop analysis of you data and has a much friendlier interface. It can be purchased from the GMI web site for $995 per copy.
MarketSight is a completely online tool for analyzing your data and is sold as a subscription service for $995 per year. It offers much of the same data analysis and reporting capabilities as the WinCross or GMI tool, and it has the added advantage of being accessible from anywhere you havea web connection. There are some limits to the size of the files you can upload yourself (only 50,000 records) but if you’re looking for a fairly easy to use program that doesn’t require a lot of effort to learn, visit the MarketSight web site.
SPSS Desktop Reporter was recently released as an integrated member of the SPSS Dimensions suite of products. Based on my limited experience with the program it appears to be a very user-friendly tool that can be used independently of the other Dimensions products. If you’ve ever used mrTables — well, this is like mrTables, except that you have all of the data available on your desktop and there are many more options. SPSS Desktop Reporter has all of the features of the other software packages, plus especially easy integration with other SPSS products. It sells for about $2,800 per copy. More information is available at SPSS.com.
If you are on a "budget" (and I use that term loosely) and already have SPSS, you may be able to get SPSS Tables (a module available for SPSS) to do many of the things you need, albeit with the requirement that you do a lot of it manually. It sells for only $800 a copy and can be found on the SPSS web site.
Another package worth considering if you are on a budget is Memphis Market Intelligence’s Survey Explorer. Different versions of the software are available which offer the ability to work with differently sized datasets — at different prices. So if you are dealing with a medium sized data set (50 questions, with no more than 2500 respondents) you could get the "Personal" edition of the software for only $519, the "Professional" edition for $579, or the "Enterprise" edition for $749. There most advanced version of the software allows for an unlimited number of questions, an unlimited number of waves and up to 20,000 respondents and can be purchased for $1,439. Although I haven’t had a chance to play with it, it appears to offer many of the features of the more expensive packages and is worth looking into at the Memphis Software web site.
If there are any other packages that you would recommend, please don’t hesitate to send them to me.
