Statistical software

In this course, you can choose to learn one of two packages: jamovi or R.

jamovi is a relatively new package, that has been designed to be easy to use. It is a free, open-source package, that is built on top of the R programming language. jamovi is based around a spreadsheet, and has an intuitive point-and-click interface. jamovi is available to download for Windows, macOS and linux at https://www.jamovi.org/download.html. We recommend using “jamovi 2.6.26 solid” where possible.

R is a programming language, which is a popular choice for biostatistics due to its flexibility and its power. Additionally, as R is an open-source project, it is available at no cost. While R has a cost advantage, it does have a reputation of being difficult to learn.

If you choose to use R, we recommend running R via a package called RStudio. Both R and RStudio are available for Windows and Mac (and Linux!) machines, and are available at no cost. Installation instructions will be provided in the course materials.

Summary

You should learn jamovi if:

• you prefer using point-and-click commands, and
• you don’t want to learn to code.

You should learn R if:

• you are interested in learning to code (with lots of helpful instruction!);
• you are interested in data science;
• you are comfortable with file paths, and don’t mind a bit of debugging.

Ultimately, if in doubt, I’d lean towards learning jamovi.