The
motivation for this page stems from my own academic upbringing which
included strict and exclusive indoctrination into the use of SPSS for
any data analysis. I do not regret that indoctrination because
SPSS is extremely easy to use and, in my opinion, helps make
statistical analysis less intimidating to the first time
user. And
in this computer age it is simply not practical to hand calculate
beyond an educational setting. However, as I became aware of more and
more complex data analysis techniques, I soon discovered the
limitations of SPSS. I began to look at other statistical software for
doing techniques SPSS could not. This led me to SAS for its
ability to conduct structural equation modeling (using PROC CALIS). SAS
was intimidating for me because I am not a computer programmer and SAS
does not offer the point-and-click ease with which I was
accustomed. So, I learned how to use some basic functions of SAS as
well as PROC CALIS to achieve my objective of
conducting structural equation modeling. At this point, I
became
aware of the cost associated with purchasing SPSS and/or SAS. I was a
student at that time and the idea of purchasing one or both of
those software packages sounded great until I discovered the price.
Obviously, here is where I began to seriously consider learning R. R is
free and as near as I can tell; it does any data analysis
technique I can think of and any technique I've even heard of. But, R
is intimidating because, like SAS it is primarily
a programming
based software. So, yes R is intimidating, but anyone is capable of
using R. If you reached this page; you're likely ready to get in the
trenches and begin slugging it out. And, there are a few
bright
spots; just about anything that works in R will work in S-Plus and
R-Commander allows some point-and-click functions to get you
started. Furthermore, there is an enormous amount of help to be found
on the web for using R. The community of R users all went through the
process of learning this stuff and are very gracious in
trading
information and helping others. This has created an environment where
there is no shame in asking any question.
What is R?
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You can
download the above video by clicking the following link:What
is R?
