Abstract
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 pre- and post-survey data show minimal differences
between the two labs, with students reporting a positive experience regardless
of section. Analysis of 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 and minutes of the associated YouTube videos. Both labs relied on a
relatively small vocabulary of consistent functions, which can provide a
starting point for instructors interested in teaching introductory statistics
in R. The tidyverse labs exposed students to more distinct R functions, but
reused functions more frequently. This work provides additional evidence for
instructors looking to choose between syntaxes for introductory statistics
teaching.