Why I (also) teach using R/Rstudio

My colleagues are sometimes surprised to learn that I teach statistics using SPSS and R/Rstudio in parallel. (Part of this is due to a misconception that R is hard to learn, ignoring that there are more difficult problems like proper model specifications and interpretation of results.) In my opinion, there are many benefits in doing so; here’s an unordered (and incomplete) list:
– introduction to a statistics package that remains available after they leave university and have access to the SPSS site licence (between jobs, moving to another university, out of academia)
– exposure to a different paradigm, making the shift to other software like Stata or SAS appear less threatening
– understanding that it doesn’t matter what package we use for basic statistics (we could even do it by hand)
– that line on the CV
– overcoming limitations in SPSS (ever tried to plot an interaction effect the way we want them?)
– ensuring that those who want to progress to more advanced (contemporary) methods actually can (being “future ready”)
– encourage a mindset that we are in control of the analyses, not the software package

At the same time, I acknowledge that many students have been exposed to SPSS before and feel more at ease when they can see the menu bar. (And the day the university gets rid of that site licence, PSPP will do nicely to work in parallel with R/Rstudio).