A self-paced tutorial to least-squares data fitting using SciDAVis

<p dir="ltr">Please note that following closure of NTR to new submissions at the end of June 2025, updates to this resource will be released on <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15371242" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Zenodo</a>. The full collection of Charlotte Dodson's teaching materials has moved to <a href="https://zenodo.org/communities/charlottedodsonteaching/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://zenodo.org/communities/charlottedodsonteaching/</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">SciDAVis is a data fitting software package used to fit physically meaningful equations to experimental (assay) data using non-linear regression. Fitting data in this way enables us to extract parameters such as IC50 values and thus to compare the efficacy of different compounds in an experimental assay in a quantitative manner. SciDAVis is free to use and will carry out the basic analyses we need here adequately. Commonly used pay-for software packages which carry out a similar function (and which are more powerful) include GraphPad Prism, SigmaPlot and Origin.</p><p dir="ltr">This record contains a self-paced tutorial to enable students to master the basic features of SciDAVis, of non-linear regression in general and to enable students to create a publication-quality figure. It is suitable for computer-literate students (undergraduate and above) and for research staff. The tutorial can be completed within 2 h and I teach it in a workshop setting with a tutor on hand to provide practical assistance. The workbook contains questions for students to complete to enable staff to gauge student understanding.</p><h3>Version history</h3><ul><li><b>v1</b>: Original submission.</li><li><b>v2</b>: Minor updates for clarity and to correct spellings / typos etc.</li></ul><p dir="ltr">Have you used this material in your teaching? If so, do <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/charlotte-dodson" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">get in touch</a> and let me know how it went!</p>