An Introduction to the Analysis of Rare Events (2011)

Common statistical models, like linear regression, are inappropriate for analyzing rare events, such as natural disasters and component failures. This paper explains why these models are inappropriate and presents Poisson regression as an accurate alternative for modeling unlikely events.

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Presented At: MWSUG  (2011)

Upcoming Presentations: WUSS  (presentation date TBA)

Getting Correct Results from PROC REG  (2010)

PROC REG, SAS’s implementation of linear regression, is often used to fit a line without checking the underlying assumptions of the model, which can lead to erroneous results. This paper shows how you can get misleading results even when the model diagnostics appear OK and presents a simple method for assessing model assumptions and output to assess if our results are valid.

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Won Best Paper At: MWSUG (2009)

Also Presented At: SAS Global Forum (2010), PNWSUG (2009), SESUG (2009), WUSS (2009) 

A Little Stats Won't Hurt You  (2009)

Not every SAS programmer who manipulates data knows how to do a proper data anaysis. This paper provides an overview of basic descriptive statistics for both single-variable and multi-variable data analysis, introduces the concept of statistical significance, and then concludes with how these ideas can be used to accurately answer questions about the data.

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Won Best Paper At: MWSUG (2009)

Also Presented At: SAS Global Forum ( 2010), PNWSUG (2009), SESUG (2009), WUSS (2009) 

Using SAS GTL to Visualize Your Data when there is Too Much of it to Visualize (2011)

Developing a good graph is challenging when the data create crowded displays with overlapping points or lines. In this paper, transparency, layering, data point rounding, median calculation, and color coding are presented and evaluated as techniques to add visual clarity to graphical outputs.

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Won Best Paper At: MWSUG (2011)

Also Presented at: NESUG (2011), PNWSUG Seattle & Portland (2011)

Upcoming at: WUSS & SESUG (presentation dates TBA)

Graphing a Progression of Time Series Plots (2011)

Graphing is an essential step for exploratory data analysis and statistical modeling. However, when graphing an ordered progression of time series plots, it can be difficult to effectively display the progression without the graph looking disorganized and chaotic. This paper shows a couple of approaches to this problem using the GPLOT procedure and the LAYOUT OVERLAY, LAYOUT DATAPANEL and SERIESPLOT statements from the Graphic Template Language (GTL).

Presented at:  PNWSUG Seattle & Portland  (2011), MWSUG (2011)

Upcoming at:   WUSS  &  SESUG  (presentation dates TBA)

Generate a Customized Axis Scale with Uneven Intervals in SAS Automatically  (2009)

The SAS/GRAPH package is well-suited for scatter plots with continuous data or line plots where discrete data are evenly spaced apart; however, this package doesn’t easily accommodate graphs requiring uneven intervals. This paper shows how to use the ANNOTATE facility, combined with a few macros, to avoid  hard-coding and instead fully automate the process of creating unevenly spaced  intervals in graphics such as needle plots, box plots, uneven width histograms, and embedded bar charts that rely on multiple horizontal axes for their display.

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Won Best Paper At: NESUG  (2008)

Also Presented At: SAS Global Forum (2009) 

Creating Your Own Worksheet Formats with exportToXL  (2009)

Our freely available SAS macro, exportToXL , uses Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to  create custom-formatted Excel worksheets by either exporting the SAS data into a pre-formatted Excel worksheet or by using a pre-set worksheet format. While exportToXL comes with a variety of different pre-programmed worksheet formats, any programmer with some basic knowledge of the SAS macro language and DDE commands can make his/her own. This paper is a tutorial about how to do just that.

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Won Best Paper At: PharmaSUG (2009)

Also Presented At: SAS Global Forum , (2009), PNWSUG (2008), SESUG (2008), WUSS (2008) 

Revisiting DDE: An Updated Macro for Exporting SAS Data into Custom-Formatted Excel Spreadsheets (2008)

There are a number of ways to export data from SAS into Excel, but only two allow for automatically exporting into custom-formatted spreadsheets, and both have significant limitations. To overcome these limitations, our new macro, exportToXL , uses Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), an older method that frequently outperforms newer methods in many cases that commonly arise in practice.

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Won Best Paper At: SAS Global Forum (2008), WUSS (2007)

Also Presented At: PNWSUG (2008)