[R] Using R in a university course: dealing with proposal comments

[Liviu Andronic]

Hello Arin,

If your future students do not know statistics, you might consider
buffering their introduction to R with the help of a GUI package, such
as Rcmdr (if functionality is missing, you could add it yourself via
the plugin infrastructure). Another way to help students would be to
direct them to easy to use and straight-forward resources, like this
[1], this [2] or this [3]. On the "why not SPSS" point, I would
imagine the answer is quality and price, and all the corollary
arguments (say, you can use it at home or during the weekend, etc).

No more than my two cents.
Liviu

[1] http://oit.utk.edu/scc/RforSAS&SPSSusers.pdf
[2] http://www.statmethods.net/index.html
[3] http://zoonek2.free.fr/UNIX/48_R/all.html

On 2/11/08, Arin Basu <arin.basu at gmail.com> wrote:
> Comment 1:
>
> "In my quick glance, I did not see that statistics would be taught,
> but I did see that R would be taught.  Of course, R is a statistics
> programme. I worry that teaching R could overwhelm the class.  Or
> teaching R would be worthless, because the students do not understand
> statistics. " (Prof LR)
>
> Comment 2:
>
> Finally, on a minor point, why is "R" the statistical software being
> used? SPSS is probably more widely available in the workplace –
> certainly in areas of social policy etc. " (Prof NB)