A short lecture on how to use R with other software such as Stata and SPSS

1. Interfacing R with Other Software
Arindam Basu MBBS MPH PhD
School of Health Sciences,
University of Canterbury
arin.basu@gmail.com

2. This is R in RStudio

3. This is Stata

4. They Do Not Easily Speak …

5. Questions …
• Why Not?
• Is there a Need to Let them Speak with Each
Other?
• Can I work entirely in R while keeping my data
in Stata/Spss?
• Can I work entirely in Stata while coding in R?

6. Why do I need to Integrate?
• I like R; my colleague likes X
• Combine the flexibility and features of both
software …
• Others?
• Demonstrate R

7. Calling Stata Data into R
• Use “foreign” package

8. Calling R into SPSS
• Install R plug-in from
– http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/spssdevcen
tral
• You can use SPSS GUI following installation, or
use SPSS syntax to get your work done

9. SPSS Syntax to Call R in SPSS

10. Running R from Within Stata
• Use the “File” command to create the file to
write R code
• Invoke a shell using “shell” command within
Stata
• In Mac, OK to write “R”
• In Windows, Use the /Path/to/R.exe

12. Talking Points
• It is relatively easy to use R flexibly with other
software such as Stata and SPSS
• Similar routines exist for SAS, JMP, and Statistica
• The Package “Foreign” is very useful, but for large
data sets, consider “memisc” package
• With Other software, in most cases with R
installed, invoking shell is effective
• For More information, see
http://r4stats.com/articles/calling-r/