Stanscore 5


StanScore is a simple but useful utility program that converts one or more sets of raw test scores into normalized-standardized z, stens, stanines, T-scores, and percentiles. The program accepts data in several convenient formats such as from Microsoft Excel .xls and .xlsx spreadsheets, Access 1997-2003 .mdb database tables, and standard comma-separated free text files. This means that data contained in such statistical packages as SPSS and STATISTICA etc. can be easily exported into say an Excel file, then read straight into Stanscore "as is" for processing. Missing Data are recognized for each variable separately by the program - recognizing a -9999 code, a null field (two commas together in a comma-separated "csv" or "txt" file), or the usual blank entries in SPSS, STATISTICA, Excel, or ACCESS.

StanScore calculates standardised scores in an on-screen, scrollable, detailed score distribution table (which can be can saved as an Excel spreadsheet).It also provides summary perecentile, stanine and sten look-up tables that are displayed on-screen, can be printed in tabular form, and can be saved to an Excel file for other uses or re-formatting for presentation-documentation purposes.

Stanscore version 3, in line with many authors, computed percentile ranks assuming continuous scores. This used a formula that assumes a score is actually a mid-point between two integer scores. The upshot of this is that the percentiles created using this formula are usually (but not always) interpreted as the values "BELOW WHICH" n% of individuals score. Another way of putting this is to say person X with percentile rank of say 80 scores higher than 80% of the group.

The problem is this is just plain wrong for integer-scored data where percentiles need to be computed for each integer score of a psychological test. There is no continuity; there are just the numbers 0 to some maximum-possible score, with the intervals between scores as an indivisible single number of 1.

The "continuous" assumption calculation only uses half the frequencies at an observed score. So for the maximum possible score, only half the observed frequencies are used to express the final percentile. This is crazy. It is factually incorrect to state the percentile for this score is the value below which n% of the norm-group score, because half the people scoring the maximum observed score are included in the cumulative proportion. I tried to make some sense of the competing definitions in one of my Technical Whitepapers entitled "Percentiles and Percentile Ranks - confused or what?" Technical whitepaper #3.

Stanscore now computes the cumulative frequency distribution from the observed frequencies at each integer score, assuming an integer score is a discrete entity (no continuity assumption). This distribution is what you find if you computed a standard frequency distribution for a set of scores in say SPSS, STATISTICA, or another stats package. The percentiles of this distribution range between a potential minimum value of 0 (if there are no observed frequencies at 0), and ALWAYS 100. Two frequency distributions for percentiles are now presented, one using the original Stanscore 3 continuous-score cumulative proportions (for legacy comparisons with "textbook solutions"), the other using the correct discrete score cumulative proportions. Both versions stanines and stens are also computed (in fact there is litle difference between these as the stanines and stens are based upon broad category-proportions of scores rather than the more numerous percentiles.

Stanscore 5 also computes and saves normed scores for each raw score for each scale (percentiles, stens, stanines, and T-scores). See the Introduction section of the help file manual.

The program accepts anywhere from 1 to 50 scale or test score variables. This means that using the "Print-All" facility, raw-score conversion lookup tables can be printed for up to 50 variables as one command. The maximum number of cases is now 1,048,570 (Excel .xlsx file)

Screenshots

(click on image to expand)

Downloads

Installation software:

Stanscore 5 manual (~29Mb)
Download the 32-bit .msi Installation file (~11Mb)

Download the 64-bit .msi Installation file (~11Mb). The 64-bit installation will only install on Windows 64-bit o/s systems.

Installation Note
The installation installs the example files used in the helpfile in c:\users\public\Stanscore Input-Data. The first time the program is run, it automatically opens that subdirectory for you. From then on, should you open your own files, the program remembers the last used path.