Date:         Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:55:17 -0500
Reply-To:     Mary <mlhoward@avalon.net>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Mary <mlhoward@AVALON.NET>
Subject:      Re: Is R overtaking SAS at universities and colleges?
Comments: To: "Long, Stuart (NIH/NIEHS) [C]" <long3@niehs.nih.gov>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Stuart (I can't help noticing the "NIH" in your name),

Perhaps you could ask at the NIH for us!  It would seem that acceptance would come at the NIH before the FDA, since many NIH grants are to universities (I'm on an NIH grant), whereas the FDA more deals with pharmaceutical firms.

Certainly, if people on NIH grants start publishing papers that have statistical analysis done in R, then that would "open the flood gates", as it were to more people using R to do their analysis.   I would think that the FDA would be more conservative in requiring the use of SAS for longer than the NIH would.  Many statistical analysts just coming out of college may get their first jobs on NIH grants at universities, and would naturally use R if that is what they've been trained in unless there's an NIH requirement prohibiting it; even if there is, they may still use R for exploratory work and switch over to SAS for formal work. 


Thus, Stuart, do you know anything about the NIH's feelings towards using R for statistical analysis?

-Mary
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Long, Stuart (NIH/NIEHS) [C] 
  To: Mary ; SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 10:38 AM
  Subject: RE: Re: Is R overtaking SAS at universities and colleges?


  What does the FDA (or any federal department that hands out grants)
  think of R?  That might be an important question to consider if R is
  currently a threat to replace SAS.  

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Mary [mailto:mlhoward@AVALON.NET] 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 11:32 AM
  To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
  Subject: Re: Is R overtaking SAS at universities and colleges?


  Because if R is overtaking SAS at universities and colleges, it will
  likely become more prevalent in the workplace, and thus existing
  statistical programmers will need to learn and use it in order to
  continue to be employable.

  -Mary
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Ben 
    To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
    Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 10:24 AM
    Subject: Re: Is R overtaking SAS at universities and colleges?


    Why bother?