I believe exposing students to some sophisticated statistical package prepares them to encounter it in graduate school. I expect that any student admitted to a thesis-oriented Masters or doctoral program will have the ability to learn some other statistical package, and this exposure helps them be well-prepared for that. For the students not going to a thesis-oriented masters or doctoral program, meaning they will nave little to no use for statistical analysis techniques, they will still benefit from having learned about a tool and way of thinking similar to what they might see in jobs they may encounter.
On Apr 15, 2010, at 9:59 AM, Dr. Bob Wildblood wrote: > I'm just asking, does the teaching of statistics with a package other than > SPSS mean that we don't believe our graduate students (or undergraduate > students who are good enough to get the kind of positions that will require > them to crunch numbers) are not capable of using another package? Believe > me, I know that several of my students have had to learn packages other than > SPSS, some of them home brewed by their employers. Is there an appropriate > time to stop learning new things? > > Marie Helweg-Larsen wrote: >> >> John et al >> Do any of you know how widely MINITAB is used in graduate school? It seems >> important to teach students software packages that they will >> use/encounter/be expected to know in graduate school. I've only ever >> encountered SAS and SPSS in grad programs. >> Marie >> >> PS. This is what it says (among other things) on the minitab website >> (http://www.minitab.com/en-US/academic/) but no info on grad school usage: >> +Powerful, but easy to use >> +Comprehensive—no separate modules to buy >> +Prepares K-12 students for AP Statistics >> +Widely used in business and industry > > . > Robert W. Wildblood, PhD > Riverside Counseling Center and > Adjunct Psychology Faculty @ > Germanna Community College > [email protected] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=1998 > or send a blank email to > leave-1998-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=2002 or send a blank email to leave-2002-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
