[R] Making a case for using R in Academia

[Charilaos Skiadas]

Hello, new to the list, first message.

This question perhaps might be more appropriate to R-sig-teaching,  
and I'd be happy to take it there if this is not the right place for it.

I am teaching applied statistics at a small liberal arts college with  
limited resources, and we are currently using SPSS for our courses.  
Mainly the reason for this, as I understand it, is that this is what  
is used "out in the real world", or at least this is our perception  
of it. I have only used R for my own stuff for about six months, and  
my training is not in statistics, so I am not very aware of what it  
can do in other disciplines, especially Sociology and Psychology. I  
would like to make a case to the other departments here for using R  
instead, so I was hoping that there might be some resources out there  
that talk about the extend in which R is being used outside of  
academia, or in general any other resources that talk about R as a  
practical alternative to the other non-free statistical packages.  
Perhaps some statistics, or particular examples of use? Any links  
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any thoughts/input into this.

Charilaos Skiadas
Department of Mathematics
Hanover College
P.O.Box 108
Hanover, IN 47243