R and SPSS difference

Question

I will be analysing vast amount of network traffic related data shortly, and will pre-process the data in order to analyse it. I have found that R and SPSS are among the most po

Answer 1

Well, are you a decent programmer? If you are, then it's worthwhile to learn R. You can do more with your data, both in terms of manipulation and statistical modeling, than you can with SPSS, and your graphs will likely be better too. On the other hand, if you've never really programmed before, or find the idea of spending several months becoming a programmer intimidating, you'll probably get more value out of SPSS. The level of stuff that you can do with R without diving into its power as a full-fledged programming language probably doesn't justify the effort.

There's another option -- collaborate. Do you know someone you can work with on your project (you don't say whether it's academic or industry, but either way...), who knows R well?