Discovering Statistics Using R

In statistics, R is the way of the future. The big boys and girls have known this for some time: There are now millions of R users in academia and industry. R is free (as in no cost) and free (as in speech). Andy, Jeremy, and Zoe's book now makes R accessible to the little boys and girls like me and my students. Soon all classes in statistics will be taught in R. I have been teaching R to psychologists for several years and so I have been waiting for this book for some time. The book is excellent, and it is now the course text for all my statistics classes. I'm pretty sure the book provides all you need to go from statistical novice to working researcher. Take, for example, the chapter on t-tests. The chapter explains how to compare the means of two groups from scratch. It explains the logic behind the tests, it explains how to do the tests in R with a complete worked example, which papers to read in the unlikely event you do need to go further, and it explains what you need to write in your practical report or paper. But it also goes further, and explains how t-tests and regression are related---and are really the same thing---as part of the general linear model. So this book offers not just the step-by-step guidance needed to complete a particular test, but it also offers the chance to reach the zen state of total statistical understanding.