Need massive help.

[bottleofbeer]

Ok, started my masters. It's 99% online.
We have to learn R stats. I cant do it. It's coding.

So far all the docs have admitted they hate it and use SPSS. I will fail because of this. I need workshops and seminars which aren't happening.

Any psych bods who can give me any clue? It really is quite advanced IT. I'm here to do neuro

[ElizabethMainwaring]

To be honest, I haven't got a clue what you are taking about.
I did my MA nearly twenty years ago, and it was a breeze compared to doing a PGCE three years ago.
I really struggled with the IT side of things (pebblepad) but just went on and on and on to them about how I couldn't use it.
In the second week they showed me how to use it and it all turned out fine.
The squeaky wheel and all that
Just keep on at them. Don't let this ruin your chances. Good luck.

[NotN0wBernard]

The thought of coding is terrifying for most people. The reality can be hard, but nowhere near as bad as the perception. What teaching resources are being provided? There are all sorts of free resources to learn R online, but you'll need a steer because the volume is overwhelming. I used the 'R for dummies' book to get me started when I first learned it. I'm pretty sure most of this content is online if you search for it. R is seen in my field (not psych) as pretty essential these days and is a very employable skill. I doubt that you will be asked to do anything too advanced in your assessment. A good educator will break the mechanics of it down into bite size pieces and allow lots of time to practice. Try not to be intimidated by it. There is every chance that you will be able to pick it up.

[Rebounder]

You can do this. It takes some thinking about but it's learnable!

There are free resources online. Brian Fogarty has written a good book (for social scientists but the methods are essentially the same). The Andy Field book has a version for R too.

[MedSchoolRat]

Agree you can do this, OP.
There's nothing special about you that means you can't do it.
If you're gonna do psychology masters, you will need to gain this skill in some kind of software.

Is there any chance you could use Stata because the online community is nice whereas the online R community are nasty bastards -- ok, not all, I know a very few very nice R-programmers. But mostly the ones who read or answer fora are intolerant impatient SOBs - in contrast to some really nice people on Stata fora. I speak as someone who was sneered at by Venables himself.

Bonus: Stata has a menu system. What stats tests are you actually trying to run? Why can the others run SPSS but you can't?

There are lots of online tutorials for R etc. Even I can do Splus R, I'd just rather stick pins in my eyeballs.

[parietal]

I each psychology at MSc level & all our stats are in R. It is a much more powerful way to do stats, and when you understand the principles it is much better than things like SPP.

Get the Andy Field book on R stats. work through it slowly.

take things one step at a time. Find worked examples and copy them exactly. Ask lots of questions in your seminars etc.

See if you can form a 'work group' with other MSc students and spend an hour each week going over the examples in R and helping each other.

[parietal]

SPP = SPSS