Marie et al

Not that I want to pitch MINITAB commercially, but I am always amazed at 
preconceptions. MINITAB has cronbach's alpha & factor analysis under 
Multivariate stats, multiple R, binary ordinal & logistic regressions under 
Regression, all anova options, etc. I would find it amazing if the go-to stat 
package for statisticians would not have these common procedures. But I 
understand that the majority of psychologists choose SPSS first. A few years 
back our IT people pushed for more MINITAB and the psych depart and a few 
others fought to keep SPSS on the network, though the arguments did not revolve 
around specific procedures that were used, just personal preference. I always 
joked that MINITAB's only fault was the name. It might be better called MAXITAB 
or POWERTAB or something like that.

==========================
John W. Kulig 
Professor of Psychology 
Plymouth State University 
Plymouth NH 03264 
====================================================================
GALILEO GALILEI:
I do not feel obligated to believe that the same God who has endowed us with 
sense, reasons, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
====================================================================


----- Original Message -----
From: "Marie Helweg-Larsen" <helw...@dickinson.edu>
To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 8:50:42 AM
Subject: RE: [tips] Best Methods, Stats, and Stats Lab Instructive Material

We require SPSS to be taught in our psychology stats course for several reasons 
(in no particular order):
-the basic stats class is a prerequisite for the 2 required advanced research 
methods courses in which they will use SPSS
-it is the program that faculty use in their own research and students who work 
in faculty labs will use SPSS
-some other programs (excel, mini tab, etc) do not calculate all needed stats 
such as Cronbach's alpha, multiple regression, factor analysis, mixed designs, 
etc. It is best (in our view) to teach one package that will meet all stats 
needs.
-half of our majors go to graduate school where they will most likely need 
SPSS. Even if fewer of our majors went to graduate school we still need to 
teach them SPSS. It makes sense to teach them in our courses. 
-many of the students who do not go on to graduate school work in a variety of 
settings in which they need to use SPSS (consultants, research assistants, lab 
managers, science assistants, etc.). 

Marie



****************************************************
Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D.
Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology
Kaufman 168, Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA 17013, office (717) 245-1562, fax (717) 245-1971
Office hours: Mon & Wed 2-3:30
http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html
****************************************************


-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. Bob Wildblood [mailto:drb...@rcn.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:38 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] Best Methods, Stats, and Stats Lab Instructive Material

A couple of folks have commented on using SPSS in their statistics courses, and 
that causes me to ask "what is the rationale for using SPSS in undergraduate 
statistics when the vast majority of our students will never again use SPSS 
unless they are employed in a research situation at a university or an agency 
that does a great deal of number crunching as part of their research?" 

---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:10:59 +0000 (UTC)
>From: roig-rear...@comcast.net  
>Subject: Re: [tips] Best Methods, Stats, and Stats Lab Instructive Material  
>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" 
><tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu>
>
>    
>
>   To teach SPSS in Stats lab, I have been using "SPSS
>   for Windows Step by Step" and I've been generally
>   satisfied with it. However, given all of the
>   resources available on the web, I am thinking of not
>   using a book for this portion of the course.
>
>    
>
>   Miguel
>
>   ---
>
>   You are currently subscribed to tips as:
>   drb...@rcn.com.
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>   To unsubscribe click here:
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.
Robert W. Wildblood, PhD
Riverside Counseling Center and
Adjunct Psychology Faculty @
Germanna Community College
drb...@rcn.com  

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