Dear Spencer, I regularly use R (via the R Commander) for intro stats courses taught to third-year sociology undergrads (in Canada). Without knowing where your friend teaches, it's hard to know what her students are like, but in my experience psychology students are generally more numerate than sociology students, and first-year students would likely have a bit more trouble with the course than third-year students. That your friend's department teaches this course in the first year suggests that it, and possibly its students, have a quantitative orientation.
I've also used a variety of statistical software to teach intro stats, including SPSS. I originally wrote the Rcmdr package so that I could use R instead, and I find that students have no more trouble pointing and clicking in the R Commander than they do in SPSS. It's also my experience that computing, regardless of the software that I've used, is the least problematic part of the course. It's much harder for students to understand statistical concepts, and even to apply simple formulas correctly, than to use menu-driven statistical software. If you'd like to take a look at the course website for my undergrad class the last time I taught it in 2011-2012, it's at <http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Courses/soc3h6/index.html>. I'm currently teaching essentially the same course, but for grad students in an accelerated one-semester format, and that's at <http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Courses/soc6z3/index.html>. You'll notice that in the grad class, students use their own computers, while in the undergrad class, they use a computer lab. That decision relates more to the size of the class (about 200 undergrads divided into four labs, 10 grad students) than to the level of the students. I hope this helps, John ----------------------------------------------- John Fox, Professor McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario, Canada http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox/ > -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-boun...@r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces@r- > project.org] On Behalf Of Spencer Graves > Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2013 9:19 PM > To: R list > Subject: [R] R for a stats intro for undergrads in the US? > > Hello, All: > > > Would anyone recommend R for an introductory statistics class > for > freshman psychology students in the US? If yes, might there be any > notes for such available? > > > I just checked r-projects.org and CRAN contributed documentation > and found nothing. > > > I have a friend who teaches such a class, and wondered if R > might > be suitable. The alternative is SPSS at $406 per student. > > > Thanks, > Spencer > > > -- > Spencer Graves, PE, PhD > President and Chief Technology Officer > Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc. > 751 Emerson Ct. > San José, CA 95126 > ph: 408-655-4567 > web: www.structuremonitoring.com > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting- > guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
