[R] mailing list for basic questions - preliminary sum up

[Emmanuel Paradis]

A 14:57 17/12/2003 +0100, Martin Wegmann a écrit:
>Hello,
>
>Roger Bivand wrote:
> > appropriate light. One basic characteristic seems to be that if the
> > question does indicate seriousness about trying to analyse data, respect
> > for the task at hand, then predictably lots of good advice comes quickly.
>
>yes, I also experienced that (from the questioner point)
>
> > I'm also not too sure about the "learning R" question. Of course there is
> > the GUI/CLI issue, and the "very many defaults already filled in" issue,
> > but actually market share really isn't a driver here, is it? Isn't this
>
>ok, I get this point - R can be seen more as "philosphie" than "commercial"
>thinking of getting market shares.
>i think it is a trade-off between "spreading" R and being a member of a 
>"geek"
>statistic program (that's what SPSS user in this dept. think about us R
>user ;-)  )
>
> > more about attitude and motivation in taking an active role in analysing
> > data? If your research question really itches, what should it take to stop
> > you learning R (or associated packages)?
>
>probably the steep learing curve but of course if you really want, you will
>suceed and explorere the advanteages of R.

I think there is a deeper problem here: in many cases, scientists come to 
data analysis as a necessity to publish their results. They look for quick 
answers when analysing data. Thus learning a completely new system of data 
analysis may seem not only steep, but of limited interest.

>That sounds a bit like an elitist point of view - who really wants to use R
>will eventually suceed.....but that's like everywhere in the opensource
>community - to get started with Linux or other software is still quite rough
>but a lot of people are doing it because of various reasons. This community
>has a great support mentality and are more worth than any commercial support
>and therefore it is possible.
>
>but I don't want to start a flame about this issue (elitist geek
>software ;-)  )and therefore I would like to propose a "evaluation" - better
>in a separate mail to keep the overview.
>
>regards Martin
>
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Emmanuel Paradis
Laboratoire de Paléontologie
Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution
Université Montpellier II
F-34095 Montpellier cédex 05
France
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