Jamovi and SPSS

[ezqulgene95]

Hi! I'm taking up my first data analysis course, and for this class we'll be using Jamovi since the pandemic started and with our schools conducting remote learning, it's hard for us to get access to SPSS.

I was wondering what are the stark differences between the two softwares? May I also know what to expect when using the Jamovi as compared to SPSS? I've already done some research a bit but I'd like to fully understand it (it's kind of hard since we're only doing everything online) and since we'll be using it until classes will be allowed on campus.

[jonathon]

spss is really old, and it feels like you've travelled back in time to the 80's when you use it. jamovi is slick and modern.

other people can chime in with their take.

cheers

jonathon

[Bobafett]

Jonathon is quite correct. SPSS is undoubtedly a powerful piece of software and can do a multitude of analyses that you probably will never even have to bother learning, but therein lies part of the problem. The user interface is hardly intuitive - what you want is buried down in a maze of sub-menus and the output can be clunky at best (let alone spat out into a separate output window that will then always require the data window open as well should you ever wish to run further tests). Undoubtedly SPSS has more bells & whistles, but jamovi is adding additional features without cluttering up the interface.

I've been teaching with it for 2 years now - my colleagues find it much easier to work with, and students who have been taught SPSS on their previous degrees invariably all prefer jamovi...

[gasper]

My experience is similar. Students like it more and since they can keep the software indefintely and there are no costs with licences or expiration dates it makes it even better. My students actually get licences for SPSS from university and I spend few lessons on showing them how to do things in SPSS after we covered the topics in jamovi first. After that lesson they like jamovi even more

I personally chose jamovi because it has more than enough statistical analysis for my teaching and if I find something lacking, I can contribute and make it even more friendly for the students.