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Have any of you geeks used R? I am thinking about delving into it for some basic descriptive statistics and regression analysis (for social science applications), and maybe some pretty graphs. Is R worth it? Is R "easy" to use/learn? I've used SPSS and STATA.

If you haven't heard of R, maybe you'll want to check it out too. It is a freeware-GNU software environment for playing with (large amounts of) numbers and graphs.

7 months ago Kent_tiny kennv 7 comments 0 recs  | 

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I've Used it for School

It’s not as easy as stata, since it is all about codes and command lines, to point and click.
It’s not hard to get going with it, you can probably do some basic regression and plots right away.
But messing around with data tables and stuff like that takes a little bit of time to get used to.

by DesertFox on Apr 10, 2009 9:25 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

edit

*not point and click

Also, IMO R is very cool and worth learning.

by DesertFox on Apr 10, 2009 9:29 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I’ve used it a little, but being that I learned SPSS and STATA first, I find them easier to use.

That said, both of those programs cost $$$$$, and I’m not sure I’l always have a job willing to spend for them. So I’ve been trying to teach myself R little by little.

Supposedly R’s graphical awesomeness buries SPSS and STATA ( which wouldn’t be hard). I know for a fact that it’s memory management is waaay better than SPSS.

Randy Winn is going to catch that. And he'll do it real classy-like too.

by oldjacket on Apr 11, 2009 6:39 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I’ve used it a little bit as well, and it does have a learning curve. But it’s hard to beat the price.

But there are a lot of great learning resources and references on the web. I think it’s worth learning and messing around with.

by BaysideBaller on Apr 11, 2009 1:44 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Thanks for the responses!

I’m fine with a learning curve, and the price is hard to beat.

And just ‘cause I’m thanking these guys doesn’t mean more people can’t post, or that I won’t be grateful for additional comments!

co-dad of IshikaBOOM w/AfDC.
Ishikawa, let the boy hit against lefties.

by kennv on Apr 11, 2009 3:14 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I’ve used S-Plus in college for my statistics classes. Have you used/heard of S-Plus? R is basically the freeware version of S-Plus, and I was able to switch from S-Plus to R when the ‘student trial’ ended without much trouble.

What’s intimidating is that you start with just a command line. Also, the syntax from what I remember was a little funky. But if you’ve done any kind of very basic-level programming (C++, Java, even HTML) you could probably figure it out very quickly.

But yeah, as others have said, it’s all about the graphics. There are tons of ways of graphing and plotting, once you figure out how to input and mess with the data, usually as vectors and matrices. The graphs you can make are as good/better than from most software you actually have to buy and are hundreds of $.

by jpolorolu on Apr 11, 2009 4:12 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

When is syntax not funky? The trick is always getting an easily readable cheat sheet, until the syntax is burned into your memory.

I guess I should download the beast, find some user guides, play with some numbers, and maybe I’ll report back. I need to find some data sets to play with….

co-dad of IshikaBOOM w/AfDC.
Ishikawa, let the boy hit against lefties.

by kennv on Apr 11, 2009 5:39 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

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