R Included with Open Infrastructure for Outcomes (OIO) system
Marc Schwartz wrote:
[snip]
There is one statement pertaining to R on the above page that I might challenge: "Unfortunately, it is a bit intimidating to use except by expert statisticians." If I can use it, anybody can... ;-) Regards, Marc Schwartz
I think this perception is our biggest challenge in spreading R. Spreadsheets and word processors also were thought to be intimidating. Indeed if we needed to know all of what R does to use it, then anyone would be more than a bit intimidated, I'm sure. There are two counter-attacks that I see: 1) Make it clear that you can do useful work in R without knowing everything. This can be facilitated by clear instructions on how to do some (subject-specific) tasks. The clarity of the instructions can be called into question, but an example of what I have in mind is: http://www.burns-stat.com/pages/Techan/r_for_tac.html 2) Highlight what is central, and make that as simple and intuitive as possible. I think the new division into a small "base" is a good step in that direction. Patrick Burns Burns Statistics patrick at burns-stat.com +44 (0)20 8525 0696 http://www.burns-stat.com (home of S Poetry and "A Guide for the Unwilling S User")