I have more than 10 years experience using both SAS and SPSS as well as teaching with them. I spend less time explaining how to do the programming with SPSS than I did with SAS.
SAS has a very logical structure (like C) and SPSS is more like (Basic) if you compare them to programming languages. I do like the way SAS lets you open multiple datasets and I like their arrays and loops better than the equivalent in SPSS, but that may be because I learned the SAS approach first. Generally, people criticism SPSS for not doing things the newer versions can do, or you can do if you have the appropriate extra cost module. The biggest current (version 11) limitation of SPSS is its inability to deal with complex samples without an add on module and the add on doesn't work with some major datasets because of its approach. Alan C. Acock [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.orst.edu/dept/hdfs/acock/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "George" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 8:12 AM Subject: Re: SPSS verses SAS/STAT > I think the most important factor to consider is the amount of experience > the "more experienced people" have with each package. If the answer > is not much in either, then what package is used most in similar companies > or by your clients? > > "Mike Lyon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > We have come down to two different statistical packages and I wanted > > to solicit opinions of SPSS and SAS/STAT packages. We need this for > > beginners (me) as well as more experience people involved in > > biological research. The common tests that we use are: general linear > > model univariate, multivariate, repeated measures, regressions as well > > as data reduction and transformations. > > > > Any info would be appreciated. > > > > Thanks > > > > > . > . > ================================================================= > Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the > problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: > . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . > ================================================================= . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
