README.HTML

This README.HTML file you are reading accompanies six other files in a zip file named optp.zip. These files help to illustrate concepts in appendix M in the paper “The Optimal Threshold p-Value for a Scientific Journal” by Donald B. Macnaughton, which is available here . Here are descriptions of the six files:
  • Three PDF documents. The document names are:
    • BowlGraphsM1-M6-Output.pdf
    • BowlGraphMain-Output.pdf
    • BowlGraphExamples-Output.pdf
    These documents contain the output from the computer programs that are listed below. The documents enable you to see the output without running the programs. For most readers, study of the three PDF documents will be enough. For best understanding, read the documents in the order given above.
  • Three SAS programs. These are the programs that generated the three PDF documents. The names of the three files with the programs are:
    • BowlGraphsM1-M6.sas
    • BowlGraphMain.sas
    • BowlGraphExamples.sas

If you're interested in running one of the programs, it is easy to modify and run them using the free online version of SAS. To do that, click here to read about and sign up for SAS OnDemand for Academics, which is free for noncommercial use, including free space to store your programs and data. After you’ve signed up and logged in, go here and watch the video about "Upload Your Own Data" to learn how to upload programs or data to the system.

To run one of the above three programs in this system:

  • Sign in to SAS OnDemand for Academics.
  • Launch SAS Studio.
  • Upload the program into the system and save it using the steps in the video.
  • In SAS Studio, if the file isn't open, double-click on its name in the left-hand Server Files and Folders window to open it.
  • If you are running program BowlGraphsM1-M6.sas, make the necessary changes described at the beginning of the program.
  • Press F3 to run the program. The results will appear in the RESULTS tab.

The SAS documentation is superior, but enormous, organized in a sensible hierarchy, which is easy to use once you understand it. However, the documentation is somewhat hard to use for beginners due to the strong possibly of getting lost in blind alleys in the hierarchy. The documentation is made more complicated because SAS is in the process of migrating to a new main product, called Viya, which is a server-based highly scalable platform for managing and analysing data. If you’re using SAS OnDemand for Academics, you can generally ignore all the references to Viya.

Click here for a web page that is at the top of the SAS documentation hierarchy. This page will likely change in the future, but the following information was current in December 2023 when this README was written. You will likely need to use only the second ("Syntax Quick Links") through eighth links ("SAS 14.3 Analytics") in the left panel on the page. You may also need the section “Controlling Output and Generating Graphics” to draw ODS graphs, which is a little lower in the panel.