Skip to content
Prev 520 / 885 Next
Original Raw

Convincing other colleagues to use R in the classroom

Amul Badjatya 
Hi Paula,

I havent used R in any research, but I am currently using it in an analytics firm.

The way I perceive our analysis goes is:

Step 1:Data Standardization:
[Approx. 70% time invested]
-Data Cleaning
-Data Manipulation
-Data standardization to make it immediately consumable for statistical analysis

Step 2: Exploratory Data Analysis & Statistical Analysis:
[Approx. 20% time invested]

-Data Sanity Check [Business Meaning Validation]
	-Identification of Outliers/Missing Values/ Inappropriate values
-Statistical Analysis [Modeling/Hypothesis testing etc.]
On the basis of feedback from Step 2- we re-massage, re-standardize the data (Step 1 again).

Step 3: Assimilation of results and presentation to the  end client
[Approx. 10% time invested]

The methodology we are now looking up to is
1-Use SQL (MySQL/MS SQL)  for Step 1
2-Use R GUIs - like Rcmdr-for EDA & Statistical Analysis

Rcmdr is wonderful to get started with R because it produces codes of the operation it performed-[and you can edit and run the same there itself]  which in turn increases the grasping of syntax.

Once an individual gets started with a small case study- hands on Rcmdr (Button click)- they are more inclined to get more involved with it.
A vital element here is the DATA MANIPULATION concept in R- which is difficult to grasp- and shoos away beginners. I got round it by using the SQLdf package- which lets you do simple manipulations in R using SQL language.

Once sufficient interaction happens- the learner automatically starts dealing with the tougher (slightly unpalatable) parts of R.

Please use a small hands on 15 minute GUI based analysis case study in your one hour session.
And let people not worry about the data standardization techniques of R.

These are my humble opinion based on the limited experience I have.

Regards,
Amul Badjatya.
www(dot)amulbadjatya(dot)com



-----Original Message-----
From: r-sig-teaching-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-sig-teaching-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Paula Grafton Young
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 9:14 PM
To: bob at statland.org
Cc: R-sig-teaching
Subject: [R-sig-teaching] Convincing other colleagues to use R in the classroom

Re: the post from bob at statland.org: As one of those people who uses R in introductory statistics courses, I hope that this list does not go away. I agree that most of the posts I see are off-topic but the ones that are on-topic have been helpful to me in the classroom. Perhaps a name change would be in order to avoid the confusion relayed by the previous post on reading large data sets--maybe R-sig-ClassroomTeaching or something like that to make it clearer.

I do actually have a question that I hope is relevant. I chose to adopt R for all the reasons most people adopt it--open source, accurate, extensible, platform independent. I thought that I would be able to convince my colleagues in other departments to at least consider using R (with something like RKWard or another GUI). I have failed miserably in doing so. I've offered workshops, invited colleagues to attend the R labs for my classes, and have had minimal response (one political scientist, one ecologist).
Even having students from my classes do demonstrations of phenomenal graphical representations of data sets didn't convince colleagues to even download R (except for again, the political scientist; the ecologist already had it).

I teach at a very small college with a very small IT budget and no departmental budgets for software. The sociologists, economists and business administration faculty won't let go of SPSS n the classroom; the biology faculty use Excel and SPSS, with the exception of the ecologist mentioned previously; the psychology faculty will only use calculators and tables.

So, what I would like to hear from some of you at other institutions is what can I do to convince/encourage my colleagues in other departments to adopt R and save our institution a significant amount of money in licensing?

Thank you in advance for your insights and advice.

---
Dr. Paula Grafton Young
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Chair, Curriculum Committee, 2011 - 2013 Chair, Strategic Planning Steering Committee, 2012 - 2013 paula.young at salem.edu
336.721.2747 (O)
336.721.2653 (F)

 <http://www.facebook.com/SalemCollege><http://www.twitter.com/SalemCollege>
On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 10:12 AM, Bob <bob at statland.org> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

        
_______________________________________________
R-sig-teaching at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any action taken in reliance on this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.

  
  


  


  


  
  

    

  

    
      
    
    
Thread (5 messages)

  

  

    
            
        Paula Grafton Young
        
        Convincing other colleagues to use R in the classroom
      
      Jan 18
    
    
      
            
        Amul Badjatya
        
        Convincing other colleagues to use R in the	classroom
      
      Jan 18
    
    
      
            
        Christopher W. Ryan
        
        Convincing other colleagues to use R in the classroom
      
      Jan 18
    
    
      
            
        Albyn Jones
        
        Convincing other colleagues to use R in the classroom
      
      Jan 18
    
    
      
            
        Whitt Kilburn
        
        Convincing other colleagues to use R in the classroom
      
      Jan 18