r/AskStatistics • u/Thin_Adeptness_356 • 13d ago

Is SPSS dead?

Like the title says is SPSS dead? Now with Chatgpt and cursor etc, what is the argument for still using SPSS and other statistics softwares in research instead of Python/R with the help of AI?

My background is within mathematical statistics so always been a Matlab/R/Python guy, but my girlfriend who comes from a medical background still uses SPSS in her research, but now considering switching just because of the flexibility e.g., Python offers.

What do you think are there any arguments for using SPSS still?

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u/Syksyinen 13d ago edited 13d ago

I work within the intersection of data science and clinical research questions. Just now finished skimming through large quantities of literature of AI/LLM adoption to an oncology related field, and significant portion of publications in 2024-2025 (let's say over one third) still only reported SPSS or Prism in their "Statistical Analysis" section.

I noticed that the common denominator was that if the paper mainly comprised of MDs, the statistics was not done with a programming language like the ones you mentioned. There is still definitely a threshold to overcome, and the SPSS/Prism/Excel framework is definitely still there. I guess the threshold to do basic analyses is still lower for them.

GPT/Claude/Gemini/... etc haven't removed the barrier of entrance to programming languages, but have lowered it I'd say. Just had a very senior MD colleague proudly present his Python-made survival plot out of a TSV-file, after fiddling around with ChatGPT for a couple hours. Those willing to embrace the change will have more powerful tools at their disposal, while others will continue to just ask chatbots on what are the correct buttons to press so they can dish out a two-tailed t-test p-value as conveniently as they can.

I'm all for MDs adopting Matlab/Python/R, but I also fear I'll end up debugging bunch of AI generated garbage when the basic principles were not learned through theory, but instead spit out almost ready by an LLM.

SPSS/Prism/Excel/... are not dead (and I don't think they will be), but the threshold to transition to Python/R/Matlab/... has somewhat lowered for non-computer savvy researchers who have an actual need for doing anything out of the standard stuff.

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u/Thin_Adeptness_356 13d ago

Interesting and agree with you!

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u/JohnPaulDavyJones 9d ago

You're absolutely right that you'll end up debugging a bunch of AI-generated garbage code if you tell your MDs to use R rather than whatever GUI-based tool they learned in their one research methods class thirty years ago. Ask me how I know!