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FAQs/Known Issues
How is ActivStats distributed?
ActivStats is provided on a single cross-platform CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (version 3.x). The disc runs on Macintosh (10.2 or higher) and Windows 2000/XP/Vista systems. You can insert the disc into your computer and expect it to run from there. You can even switch between Mac and Windows systems.
Whom do I contact to purchase ActivStats?
For personal or corporate use, click here for purchasing information. For education use, either as a student or a teacher, contact Pearson Education.
Can ActivStats be delivered over a network?
Yes, but performance may be degraded. ActivStats makes extensive use of sound files and video. These require on-time delivery and may overload servers and networks if several people use ActivStats at the same time.
What textbooks work best with ActivStats?
ActivStats is designed to work with almost any statistics text. Specific matches are provided within ActivStats to a number of popular textbooks. Whenever two sources are used to teach, there may be minor differences in notation and terminology. ActivStats uses a common notation and terminology found in many texts, modified at times to accommodate computer presentation. The Glossary helps to clarify any differences.
How much material is in ActivStats?
ActivStats is extraordinarily rich and deep. Material is presented in over 300 activities. Experience teaching with ActivStats suggests that a student needs about 60 hours to carefully study and complete all of the material in ActivStats, including working some (but not all) of the Exercises in each lesson. Of course, there is no need for students to complete all of this material to benefit from working with ActivStats.
Can I teach or work with a statistics package other than Data Desk?
Certainly. Data Desk is provided on the ActivStats disc and is integrated into some of the activities. However, the data used in exercises can easily be moved to any other standard statistics package. We recommend that the best place to introduce another statistics package is when students have learned inference methods and are prepared to deal with package output in its full form. Until that point in the course, ActivStats protects students from the full Data Desk output, presenting an edited version of results and a simplified template-based interface.
I want to study or review statistics on my own. Is ActivStats sufficient?
The Professional ActivStats package available from Data Description includes all you need to study statistics on your own.
My students may work on their own machines or on public computers. How can they keep their work consistent?
Students who work only on their own computers can install their progress files on their hard disks. Students who move among computers can carry ActivStats with them. Each student can have his or her own ActivStats DVD and a floppy disk on which to record individual progress, homework files, datasets, etc. Armed with these two disks a student can sit at any appropriately equipped computer and pick up where he or she left off.
My students will be working in a laboratory at the same time. Any advice?
First, have each student bring personal headphones. (That’s usually not a burden; most students come attached to headphones already.) If you need two students to share the same computer, splitters are available (for example, from Radio Shack). Each student should have his or her own floppy disk on which to record individual progress, homework files, datasets, etc.
What about the Advanced Placement Statistics course?
ActivStats covers most of the syllabus specified for the AP statistics course and generally uses the same notation and terminology as specified for that course. ActivStats has already been used successfully to supplement AP statistics classes. ActivStats can be licensed by a high school, purchased individually by students for use at home, or used by individual students who wish to prepare for the AP exam but do not have access to an AP Statistics class.
How do the serial numbers work?
Each ActivStats package contains a serial number. A valid serial number is required to use ActivStats. ActivStats checks to see that there is only one copy of ActivStats in use on the network with that particular serial number. If there is another copy of ActivStats already running with the same serial number, that computer name is displayed and access to ActivStats is denied. If ActivStats terminates without using the Exit command, then there is a chance that the ActivStats serial number is still associated on that particular computer. Starting and properly stopping ActivStats using the serial number will remove the association and allow the serial number to be used on a different computer.
Why can’t I hear movie sounds, but can hear the narrator in expositions? (Windows)
Chances are that you have installed QuickTime. If so, open the QuickTime Settings in the Control Panel list. Choose Sound Out from the top of the dialog, then select waveOut instead of DirectSound. Restart your ActivStats program and you should now hear sounds in both movies and animated activities.
My ActivStats student progress file seems corrupted. What do I do?
Sometimes the ActivStats windows appear in funny locations and sizes. To fix this, first exit from ActivStats. Find the preferences file for ActivStats and delete it; the file is named either "ActivStats Preferences" (Mac, located in "System Folder:Preferences:" or "/Users/your_account_name/Library/Preferences/") or "ActivStats.ini" (Windows, located in "C:\Windows\"). Launch ActivStats by clicking on the application icon (not the student file icon). Choose "Open Student File" and hold down either shift-option (Mac) or shift-control (Windows) while opening your student file. This prevents the loading of the window locations and preferences and only loads the student name, serial number, progress information, and bookmarks. Don’t forget to save this fixed progress file!
If you seem to have trouble with the ActivStats application and want to reset all preferences, start the application while holding down the shift-option keys (Mac) or shift-control keys (Windows).
Why do I get an "invalid drive" error message at startup? (Mac)
ActivStats ships on a hybrid CD- or DVD-ROM, which contains both Mac and Windows volumes. Some non-Apple drives mount both the Mac and Windows volumes onto the Mac desktop. If you see two volumes named "ActivStats", then you must drag the Windows volume of ActivStats to the Trash to dismount it. To tell the volumes apart, the Windows volume contains files such as "activstats.exe" and "setup.exe".
Why doesn’t my system screen saver work within ActivStats? (Windows)
The system screen saver is disabled when ActivStats is the frontmost application on Windows. This is because several ActivStats movies and expositions are several minutes long and the screen saver disrupts these activities.
How do I load the full ActivStats on my hard drive?
Make sure you have enough space on your hard drive to handle all of ActivStats. Create a folder on your hard drive for the ActivStats application. Open the ActivStats CD- or DVD-ROM volume and drag its entire contents to the folder you just created.
Why does the sound break up and stutter during an exposition? (Mac OS 9.x)
Probably either virtual memory is turned on in the Memory control panel or RAMDoubler is installed. In either case, the solution is to disable the offender. To disable virtual memory, select the Memory control panel and click the Off button in the virtual memory section. To disable RAMDoubler, use the Extensions Manager control panel to turn it off. A full restart is needed for the either change to take effect.
How can I get the best performance for ActivStats?
If expositions and movies play slowly or hesitate, check the following items to ensure maximum performance:
- quit all other open applications
- turn off file sharing
Mac OS 9.x settings:
- turn off virtual memory, RAMDoubler, and RAM disks
- in the Sound control panel, set the Sound Out to the highest available
rate
- use Extension Manager to disable any unnecessary extensions and control
panels
Why do I see "Exploration application is missing" message? (Windows)
Some older Windows 95/98/NT computers have CD-ROM drivers that do not recognize filenames longer than the MS-DOS 8.3 format. You can verify this by examining the ActivStats CD-ROM in Windows Explorer. For example, if the application name reads "ACTIVSTA" instead of "ActivStats", then your CD-ROM driver cannot read the longer-name format.
The short-term solution is to install ActivStats, so that the application "Data Desk AS.exe" becomes available in longer-name format. Launch ActivStats from the Start -> Programs menu instead of the CD-ROM. A longer-term solution is to update the CD-ROM driver software; contact your computer manufacturer for an update.
Can I move my student file between Mac and Windows?
Yes. A certain academic year edition of ActivStats can open any student file saved by this edition regardless of which operating system the file was saved on.
Student files saved on the Macintosh for use on Windows need to be saved with the .axs extension. For example, MyFile needs to be saved as MyFile.axs.
Student files saved on Windows for use on the Mac are typically transferred via translation software like PC MACLAN Connect or PC Exchange. Your translation software needs to be customized to recognize and translate ActivStats student files created on Windows. For example, with PC Exchange, create a new record and define the DOS extension as .axs and the Mac file type as dmst, creator ddmm. For PC MACLAN Connect, create a new record and enter .axs as the DOS extension, ddmm as the Mac creator type and dmst as the document Type.
How do I set up ActivStats on my classroom server?
First you must get a laboratory license for ActivStats (contact Data Description). Create a directory called ActivStats on your server. Copy all files from ActivStats CD- or DVD-ROM to the server, preserving the directory structure. Make the ActivStats directory readable and shareable non-exclusive by all clients. From the client computer, launch ActivStats from the shared directory.
These instructions only cover a single platform (Windows or Macintosh). To support both Macintosh and Windows clients, you must create a separate sharable directory and copy the alternative platform ActivStats files. Note that ActivStats is a hybrid disc, meaning that mounting the volume on different platforms shows different files.
Why does ActivStats freeze on my home computer? (Windows)
On Windows computers, NetBEUI is a network protocol for IBM-created LAN networks, and IPX/SPX is a protocol for Windows sockets. Unless your computer is connected via Ethernet to other PC computers, these are not necessary, and are probably causing the problems. Bring up the network control panel and deactivate these protocols, and also the Microsoft Client. If your system is continuously trying to hook up to one of these non-existent services, then you should also see a huge gain while using your computer after these are removed.
How do I create a web link to a Data Desk file?
Do you have access to the web server software? If you do, the best solution is to register the MIME type of files with the suffix ".dsk" to "application/x-datadesk" on the server, since without this mapping the default is TEXT MIME type. You will see that this tries to display the file as a text file.
I get a pop up error when launching ActivStats on a Windows 2000 computer in a lab. (Version 2 only)
This is a user’s permission error. You can just click OK and the window goes away without additional errors.
I am unable to access Data Desk Help from the Student Version of Data Desk on the ActivStats CD. (Version 2 only)
This is only a problem from the Data Desk Student Version menu. Users have the ability to launch Data Desk Help from within ActivStats. Open the ActivStats Help Guide (the dialog displayed when clicking the light bulb icon on the toolbar) and click Data Desk Help. Or, from the Help menu in ActivStats chose Data Desk Help.
Why can't I view the Data Desk help files in Windows Vista?
Windows Vista no longer supports the help file format used in your Student version of Data Desk 6. This will be addressed with the next version of Data Desk. In the interim, you can download a plug-in from Microsoft to view the Data Desk help. To download this plug-in, visit Microsoft's Download Center.
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