Statistics and plotting
Significance testing, regression and publication-ready figures.
Start from the task
Is my treatment different from my control?
Compare two groupsWhich of my conditions differ from each other?
Compare three or more groupsDoes one measurement predict the other?
Test whether two variables are relatedDo these categories occur at different rates?
Compare counts or proportionsWhat n do I need for this experiment?
Work out how many samples you needI ran thousands of tests — which results are real?
Correct for multiple testingHow should I show this data instead of a bar chart?
Plot your data so the reader can see itHow do I plot fold change against significance?
Make a volcano plotHow do I visualise an expression matrix?
Make a heatmapHow do I make a diagram of my model?
Draw a schematic or graphical abstract
Recommended
- t-test calculator
Compare two groups and get the effect size and interval, not just a p-value.
Built inNo upload - Multiple testing correction
Adjust a list of p-values by Benjamini–Hochberg or Bonferroni.
Built inNo upload - One-way ANOVA
Compare three or more groups, with variance explained and every pair tested.
Built inNo upload - Correlation and regression
Pearson or Spearman with a confidence interval on r, plus a fitted line.
Built inNo upload - Chi-square and Fisher’s exact
Compare counts across categories, with the odds ratio and its interval.
Built inNo upload - Power and sample size
How many replicates you need — worked out before the experiment, not after.
Built inNo upload - JASP
Free statistics software with both classical and Bayesian tests.
ExternalUniversity of AmsterdamDesktop install - GraphPad Prism
The default statistics and graphing package in experimental biology.
ExternalDotmaticsPaid - jamovi
Free point-and-click statistics built on R, with a spreadsheet front end.
Externaljamovi projectDesktop install - estimationstats.com
Estimation plots: effect size with confidence interval, not just a p-value.
ExternalHo, Tumkaya et al.Free - R and RStudio
The statistical environment nearly all biological methods are written for.
ExternalR Foundation / PositFree - G*Power
Power analysis and sample size calculation for the standard tests.
ExternalUniversität DüsseldorfFree - SuperPlotsOfData
Plots every replicate and every experiment, instead of hiding both in a bar.
ExternalJoachim Goedhart, University of AmsterdamFree - VolcaNoseR
Volcano plots from a results table, with labelling and thresholds you control.
ExternalJoachim Goedhart, University of AmsterdamFree - Morpheus
Interactive heatmaps with clustering, in the browser.
ExternalBroad InstituteFree - BioRender
Scientific diagrams and schematics from a large library of biological icons.
ExternalBioRenderFree tier
Also available
Indexed for completeness. We haven’t formed a view on these yet.
- IBM SPSS Statistics
Long-established commercial statistics package, common in clinical research.
ExternalIBMPaid - Stata
Commercial statistics package strong in epidemiology and survival analysis.
ExternalStataCorpPaid - SRplot
Free web platform covering a very wide range of biological plot types.
ExternalScience and Research Online PlatformFree - Inkscape
Free vector editor for assembling and labelling multi-panel figures.
ExternalInkscape projectDesktop install
If you script
Command-line and library options, named in the task guides above.