The UW provides students with free access to many software programs! You can find the complete list of software packages and their download links in the UWare catalog on the UW-IT website. The kind folks at UW-IT purchased licenses to make these otherwise costly programs FREE for UW students and staff!
Below, we highlight some UWare packages you might find helpful as a researcher!
Useful UWare Packages
Qualtrics is an online data collection tool used to build, distribute, and analyze surveys. The UW has access to Qualtrics Core XM, which lets users create and administer unlimited surveys and offers tools to analyze and report on the collected data.
ArcGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) that helps researchers create, analyze, map, and share all types of data. Fields like geography, environmental science, urban planning, and political science use GIS technology to create maps. Free access to ArcGIS for the UW community comes from the Department of Geography.
Tableau is a data visualization software focused on business analytics. It’s a popular platform for creating dashboards, reports, and other data visuals. Tableau’s tools help make large sets of data easier to interpret without requiring any computer programming skills.
Overleaf helps researchers write scientific and technical documents more easily and collaboratively. It is a platform for writing, editing, and designing research papers using LaTeX. It stands out from other LaTeX editors because it allows multiple users to edit the same document at once. UW students, faculty, and staff can access Overleaf for free with their NetID.
SPSS stands for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The platform helps researchers manage, analyze, document, and visualize data. SPSS is popular in social sciences research and highly recommended by UW’s Center for Statistics and Social Sciences (CS&SS). Unlike Tableau and ArcGIS, students must use an authorization code when they download the SPSS installer.