Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 20:34:10 -0400
From: tombrown@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Thomas F Brown)
Subject: Re: Pro-Cite Vs. Endnote Plus
To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
Message-id: <199708010034.UAA23066@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
>Snip:
>I hate to disagree, but I believe you can run many more things on a mac
>than you might suspect.  Procite, sas, spss, tons o word processing,
>mathematica ans it's statistical pack, ect.  I would hate to see someone
>that wants a mac not to get one. 

I specifically mentioned lisrel and nudist as being unavailable for
mac (I think). I don't know of any mac program that will do structural
equations modeling. Do you? Maybe mathematica would do it, but it
certainly wouldn't be as easy as lisrel, and that stuff is hard enough
to deal with already when you're first learning it. Having to tweeze
mathematica to pull it off--most likely with no one at the dept being
able to help you--would make the learning curve formidable indeed. What 
about programs for organizing qualitative data--is there anything for the 
mac that is as powerful as nudist? 

Another concern would be in dealing with cd-rom databases. Most of them
have programs built-in that self-extract the data into compatible formats 
for common pc programs, allowing you to easily browse and search the data. 
Would this be a problem if you use a mac? You could get the data off
one way or another, eventually, but if the built-in browser/extractor 
didn't work, you'd be in for a huge amount of extra computer wrangling 
that wouldn't be necessary on a pc.

Again, I hate to dis the mac since I prefer them myself, but I found 
I needed a pc to do most of my analysis work, and that's what pays
the bills around here and keeps me living in the lap of luxury.
Even if I ran the simpler analyses--basic regressions and stuff--
that are possible on the mac, my employers would still want to 
see a printout that they can read without going to any extra
trouble, which means having to use whichever program they tell 
me to use. The best answer is to find out what they use at
your dept, or wherever your RA gig is likely to be.