Software Reviews : MIDAS (Microcomputer Integrated Data Analysis System)Publisher: MIDAS Instructional Software,Ltd.,12 Enfield St.,Jamaica Plain,MA 02130 Year of Publication: 1991 Version Reviewed: 2.01 Materials: Integrated data archive (permanently installed);student program disk;lab book: Social Association. Requires Stata statistical package (comes with run-time Stata/. Price: $300 for the integrated data archive on the first computer,$50 for each additional computer;$15 for the student program disk (allows 300 statistical procedures);$15 for the Social Association lab book. Machine Specificity: IBM Pc compatibles. System Requirements: Minimum of 640K memory and a hard disk (over 3MB are used by the program) Effectiveness: Very Good User Friendliness: Excellent Documentation: Excellent

Abstract

MIDAS is an innovative data-analysis program that enables students unskilled in statistics to perform a wide range of procedures. The program keeps track of the coding of the variables selected and presents users with appropriate statistical options. It then runs the data and interprets the output in nontechnical lan-guage. MIDAS is a powerful instructional tool for students of wide- ranging abilities.