Most SAS regression procedures support the "stars and bars" operators, which enable you to create models that include main effects and all higher-order interaction effects. You can also easily create models that include all n-way interactions up to a specified value of n. However, it can be a challenge to
Let us continue with our journey beyond standard plots and charts. Often we need to create some simple diagrams to visualize the connections between different entities such as patients and providers or even a social network. Many of you may not have a custom tool to create diagrams. But you have Base SAS, so
In my previous post, Introducing data-driven loops, I suggested a way of implementing programming loops with a list of index variables pulled from an external data table. These ordinary programming loops iterate during code execution while processing some data elements of an input data table. SAS macro loops, on the
In previous articles, I've shared tips about how you can work with SAS and ZIP files without requiring an external tool like WinZip, gzip, or 7-Zip. I've covered: How to create ZIP files with ODS PACKAGE ZIP (available since SAS 9.2) How to "unzip" and read ZIP files using FILENAME
On a recent CBS Sunday Morning episode Dr. Phil McGraw of “Dr. Phil” fame was featured. During the segment he talked about shifting his focus from golf to tennis. To paraphrase, he said golf drove him crazy because he couldn’t bear down, run faster, sweat harder and be better. I
In my previous blog post I talked about how the rapid and varied growth of data calls for states to consider an enterprise analytics program, in the form of a Center of Analytics. This entry, first posted as an article on Government Executive's Route Fifty, gives the most important success
This is my second article about voice of customer analysis; you can find the first here. The first time we discussed that a simple sentiment polarity score was a rather a narrow view. This time we will examine a more insightful approach, using voice of customer analysis to monitor customers’ opinions
Here's a golf puzzle from Sam Loyd: Everybody is playing golf now, and even the lazy ones who a few weeks ago declared how much pleasanter it was to swing in a shady hammock, have caught the golf fever and are chasing the ball around the golf links. I am
I took my first Uber ride recently. I was with a colleague and we were going into the office before dawn to finish a presentation we were making later that morning. As our Uber driver accelerated to merge onto the interstate, we heard a high-pitched whine and smelled hot metal
I've been doing some investigation into Apache Spark, and I'm particularly intrigued by the concept of the resilient distributed dataset, or RDD. According to the Apache Spark website, an RDD is “a fault-tolerant collection of elements that can be operated on in parallel.” Two aspects of the RDD are particularly
There’s been quite a lot of chatter lately about my Boston Red Sox and their recent shift ‘away’ from using analytics or ‘sabermetrics,’ as data science is often referred to in baseball (Jeff Passan, one of my favorite baseball writers, chimes in here – Forbes also commented that the Sox are
Have you ever found a graph of some interesting information, but the graph was difficult to understand (or even misleading). I strive to fix those graphs - this time it's a graph of US immigration data... I found the following immigration graph on the flowingdata website - it's a screen-capture of
As the torrential downpour of rain and gusty winds hit The Triangle and much of the south last week, I was keenly aware of behavior…my dog’s behavior. With the wetness of their paws, they would enter the house and immediately sit on a towel so we could dry them. Opportunity to
Last week I showed how to create dummy variables in SAS by using the GLMMOD procedure. The procedure enables you to create design matrices that encode continuous variables, categorical variables, and their interactions. You can use dummy variables to replace categorical variables in procedures that do not support a CLASS
I recently received a call from a colleague that is using parallel processing in a grid environment; he lamented that SAS Enterprise Guide did not show in the work library any of the tables that were successfully created in his project. The issue was very clear in my mind, but
When I am discussing my new Explaining Analytics course with analytic professionals, I frequently hear, “I have a co-worker that needs the class.” That comment is much more frequent than – “Hey I need that class.” The truth of the matter is we all need to continue to improve –
April 7, 2003 will go down in the history books for me. The streets of Syracuse, New York, were abuzz. I was a junior television major, and our men’s basketball team had just won its first NCAA basketball title. Our three-seed Orangemen had bested #2 Kansas in New Orleans, but the
It’s hard to believe, but SAS Global Forum 2016 is less than two months away. As chair of this year’s conference, I’ve been preparing for the event for nearly two years. Now, it’s right around the corner! Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time reading and contributing to the
With the upcoming appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice, I wondered just how liberal and conservative previous justices have been. I found some data, and tried my hand at creating a graph to help visualize it... In my quest for data, I came upon an article on the NYTimes
Data quality has always been relative and variable, meaning data quality is relative to a particular business use and can vary by user. Data of sufficient quality for one business use may be insufficient for other business uses, and data considered good by one user may be considered bad by others.
One of the first things SAS programmers learn is that SAS data sets can be specified in two ways. You can use a two-level name such as "sashelp.class" which uses a SAS libref (SASHELP) and a member name (CLASS) to specify the location of the data set. Alternatively, you can
Have you ever been in a meeting in which a presenter is showing content on a web page -- but the audience can't read it because it's too small? Then a guy sitting in the back of the room yells, "Control plus!". Because, as we all know (right?), "Ctrl+" is
The 88th Annual Academy Awards are coming up. Twitter will be on high alert Sunday night to hear who takes home the gold Oscar. To celebrate in our own special way, we want to highlight some of our amazing followers. Without further ado, here are our award-winning posts from the last year: Best
Companies in nearly every industry – from retailers and manufacturers to commercial airlines and health care providers – are all waking up to the opportunities in the Internet of Things. If you're still trying to understand how analyzing IoT data could benefit your business, read a few of the articles
This blog is the fourth in a February series from SAS Work/Life. First we had Laurie Watson talk about Finding the Love you Need. Her blog was followed up by an excellent Lunch and Learn Attachment and Dating! Next, Dr. Mona Gupta and colleagues blogged about Dating the Second Time Around. The third blog,
SAS Global Forum 2016 is the largest gathering of SAS users in the world, with more than 5,000 data scientists, analytic professionals and business leaders expected for this year’s event at The Venetian in Las Vegas, April 18-21. While many users make the event a part of their professional development
When I was a kid, I remember being fascinated by the first moon landing. I probably won't ever get to explore the moon in person, but perhaps creating an interactive moon map is the next best thing! Before we get started, I wanted to share a couple of photos my co-worker
In a recent blog I wrote about how big data is a game changer for the insurance industry. But the question that is often asked “What is big data”? Many people associate big data with the 4 V’s: Volume – The sheer size of data that is produced. Velocity –
In transportation, when an asset is standing still, it is losing money. The same can be said for your business strategy: when you are standing still, you are not innovating or taking advantage of new ways to enhance efficiency or drive profitability. This is true in all industries. In the
In “Explaining statistical methods to the terrified & disinterested: A focus on metaphors”, I discuss the usefulness of metaphors for explaining abstract statistical concepts to non-technical readers. This is an approach taken in my new SAS Press book, Business Statistics Made Easy in SAS®, since many readers of this level
