Here is a list of commonly used data analysis tools as well as information on how to access them. This list is not comprehensive. For the most up to date information, we recommend checking the website of Information Technology Services (ITS) or one of the following guides:

If a tool you are interested in using can only be accessed using computers on campus but you are remote, you can look into the possibility of using a virtual desktop.

 

Pay-to-use tools you may have access to through Northeastern

These are tools that typically require a paid license to use and that you may have access to as a student, faculty, or staff member at Northeastern.

Tool Description Access
Excel A standard data analysis and visualization tool that is used extensively in fields such as business or finance.

Students, faculty, and staff can access Excel for free as part of Microsoft Office 365 on both their personal computers and on-campus by using computers in ITS-managed computer labs. For personal computers, see ITS's guide to Microsoft 365 for Windows or ITS's guide to Microsoft 365 for Mac. For on-campus computers, see the locations this software is available at in ITS's guide to software available in computer labs.

Please note, as of the time this guide was created, the Excel "Ideas" function is only available in the online version of Excel which can be accessed by logging in to Microsoft Office Online.
MATLAB MATLAB is a tool for high powered calculations and data visualization. It is frequently used in engineering.

Students, faculty, and staff can access Matlab for free on both their personal computers and on-campus by using computers in ITS-managed computer labs. For personal computers, see ITS's guide to MATLAB. For on-campus computers, see the locations this software is available at in ITS's guide to software available in computer labs.
NVivo A tool designed to help researchers analyze qualitative (non-numerical) or unstructured data. Students, faculty, and staff can access NVivo for free on both their personal computers and on-campus by using computers in ITS-managed computer labs. For personal computers, see the myNortheastern "Software Downloads" section of ITS's guide to installing software. For on-campus computers, see the locations this software is available at in ITS's guide to software available in computer labs.
SAS SAS is a popular statistical software for analyzing and visualizing data. Students, faculty, and staff can access SAS for free on both their personal computers and on-campus by using computers in ITS-managed computer labs. For personal computers, see ITS's guide to SAS. For on-campus computers, see the locations this software is available at in ITS's guide to software available in computer labs.
SPSS SPSS is a popular statistical software for analyzing and visualizing data.

Students, faculty, and staff can access SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics and IBM SPSS Modeler) for free on both their personal computers and on-campus by using computers in ITS-managed computer labs. For personal computers, see ITS's guide to SPSS. For on-campus computers, see the locations this software is available at in ITS's guide to software available in computer labs.
Stata Stata is a popular statistical software for analyzing and visualizing data.

Students, faculty, and staff can access Stata (StataSE) on-campus by using computers in ITS-managed computer labs. For more information, see the locations that this software is available in ITS's guide to software available in computer labs.
Tableau A point-and-click visualization tool that is commonly used to create dashboards for business intelligence.

Tableau Desktop is a pay-to-use tool for which Northeastern does not have a university-wide license. However, students may be eligible for a free student license through Tableau and faculty/staff may be eligible for a free teaching license through Tableau.

Tableau Public is a free-to-use tool that can be used as alternative to the pay-to-use desktop version. It can be accessed by creating an account on Tableau's website.

 

Free-to-use tools

Point-and-click tools (non-coding)

There are a large number of free data analysis tools available online and new tools are being created all the time. If you know the type of analysis you want to perform, we suggest conducting a search yourself for the latest highly recommended tools. Otherwise, this is a list of some commonly used tools.

Tool Description Access
Tableau Public Tableau Public is a free-to-use tool that can be used as alternative to the pay-to-use desktop version. It can be accessed by creating an account on Tableau's website. Access at Tableau Public's website.
Power BI Free to download software that is a popular alternative to Tableau. Download from Power BI's website.
Voyant An easy-to-use online text analysis tool. Access at Voyant Tool's website.

 

Programming Languages & Libraries (coding)

These are some of the most common programming languages and libraries used for data analysis and visualization.

Tool Description Access
Python A programming language that has many popular libraries such as Matplotlib, ggplot, and Plotly that can be used to create data visualizations. Download from Python's website.
R / R Studio A programming language and development environment frequently used for statistical computing and graphics. Download from RStudio's website.