Comments on: SPSS, SAS, R, Stata, JMP? Choosing a Statistical Software Package or Two. http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/spss-sas-r-stata-jmp-choosing-a-statistical-software-package-or-two/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spss-sas-r-stata-jmp-choosing-a-statistical-software-package-or-two Statistical Consulting, Resources, and Statistics Workshops for Researchers in Psychology, Sociology, and other Social and Biological Sciences Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:34:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dennis http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/spss-sas-r-stata-jmp-choosing-a-statistical-software-package-or-two/comment-page-1/#comment-2246 Dennis Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:58:18 +0000 http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/?p=321#comment-2246 Good advice, all around. But... if you choose SPSS as your primary package, SAS has little to offer you, and vice versa. The overlap is just too great to make either a good complement to the other. A factor to consider in choosing between the Big Two is your preferred user interface. If you don't want to program (much) and you adore point-and-shoot interfaces, go with SPSS. If you don't mind programming explicitly, and despise point-and-shoot interfaces SAS will make you happier. Another factor in choosing among the Big Two is your use of structural equation models (SEMs). If you don't use them it's a non-issue. If you use them extensively, you should choose between EQS-like syntax (in SAS PROC CALIS) and SPSS's AMOS. SEMs are confusing enough without worrying about converting from your preferred expression of the models into the expression your software wants. Much better choices as a complement to one of the Big Two are Stata and some dialect of S (R, S, S-plus). Stata users say it has some very slick programming facilities. (I'm not among them, so I can't say from experience.) The S dialects are killers for simulation studies. I benchmarked R against SAS/IML (in version 9.1) and found R was an order of magnitude faster. R is built entirely around an object-oriented programming interface. Language extensions are a snap. In my opinion bootstrap estimation is easier in R than in other languages. High resolution graphics are native to R, and (despite a lot of improvement from versions 6 to 7 to 9.1 and 9.2) not native to SAS. Good advice, all around. But… if you choose SPSS as your primary package, SAS has little to offer you, and vice versa. The overlap is just too great to make either a good complement to the other.

A factor to consider in choosing between the Big Two is your preferred user interface. If you don’t want to program (much) and you adore point-and-shoot interfaces, go with SPSS. If you don’t mind programming explicitly, and despise point-and-shoot interfaces SAS will make you happier.

Another factor in choosing among the Big Two is your use of structural equation models (SEMs). If you don’t use them it’s a non-issue. If you use them extensively, you should choose between EQS-like syntax (in SAS PROC CALIS) and SPSS’s AMOS. SEMs are confusing enough without worrying about converting from your preferred expression of the models into the expression your software wants.

Much better choices as a complement to one of the Big Two are Stata and some dialect of S (R, S, S-plus). Stata users say it has some very slick programming facilities. (I’m not among them, so I can’t say from experience.) The S dialects are killers for simulation studies. I benchmarked R against SAS/IML (in version 9.1) and found R was an order of magnitude faster. R is built entirely around an object-oriented programming interface. Language extensions are a snap. In my opinion bootstrap estimation is easier in R than in other languages. High resolution graphics are native to R, and (despite a lot of improvement from versions 6 to 7 to 9.1 and 9.2) not native to SAS.

]]> By: » Blog Archive » R Tutorial Series http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/spss-sas-r-stata-jmp-choosing-a-statistical-software-package-or-two/comment-page-1/#comment-1991 » Blog Archive » R Tutorial Series Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:35:31 +0000 http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/?p=321#comment-1991 [...] since I was already fluent in SAS, SPSS, and BMDP (may it rest in peace), I resisted SPlus.  A [...] [...] since I was already fluent in SAS, SPSS, and BMDP (may it rest in peace), I resisted SPlus.  A [...]

]]> By: R, the Epic Fail blog, and SOFA Statistics « Statistics Open For All http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/spss-sas-r-stata-jmp-choosing-a-statistical-software-package-or-two/comment-page-1/#comment-1265 R, the Epic Fail blog, and SOFA Statistics « Statistics Open For All Mon, 26 Apr 2010 06:33:41 +0000 http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/?p=321#comment-1265 [...] and cross tabs. It has been suggested that people should expect to use more than one package (SPSS, SAS, R, Stata, JMP? Choosing a Statistical Software Package or Two) SOFA Statistics may be a useful complement to R for many [...] [...] and cross tabs. It has been suggested that people should expect to use more than one package (SPSS, SAS, R, Stata, JMP? Choosing a Statistical Software Package or Two) SOFA Statistics may be a useful complement to R for many [...]

]]> By: peng http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/spss-sas-r-stata-jmp-choosing-a-statistical-software-package-or-two/comment-page-1/#comment-1222 peng Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:08:03 +0000 http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/?p=321#comment-1222 hi friends, I am new to R.I would like to know R-PLUS.Does any know where can I get the free training for R-PLUS. Regards, Peng. hi friends,
I am new to R.I would like to know R-PLUS.Does any know where can I get the free training for R-PLUS.

Regards,
Peng.

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