This paper reports on a head-to-head comparison run in a pair of introductory statistics labs, one conducted fully in the formula syntax, the other in tidyverse. Analysis of incidental data from YouTube and RStudio Cloud show interesting distinctions. The formula section appeared to watch a larger proportion of pre-lab YouTube videos, but spend less time computing on RStudio Cloud. Conversely, the tidyverse section watched a smaller proportion of the videos and spent more time computing. Analysis of lab materials showed that tidyverse labs tended to be slightly longer in terms of lines in the provided RMarkdown materials, but not in minutes of the associated YouTube videos. The tidyverse labs exposed students to slightly more distinct R functions, but both labs relied on a quite small vocabulary of consistent functions, which can provide a starting point for instructors interested in teaching introductory statistics in R. Analysis of pre- and post-survey data show no differences between the two labs, so students appeared to have a positive experience regardless of section. This work provides additional evidence for instructors looking to choose between syntaxes for introductory statistics teaching.
Teaching modeling in introductory statistics: A comparison of formula and tidyverse syntaxes