R has gained massive popularity in the past decade as the tool of choice for a wide variety of data analysts. The language is used as part of the data analysis toolchain in some of the biggest companies in the world. The former Revolution Analytics listed up some of the companies that work with R. That list looked impressive already in 2014 including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Monsanto, the FDA, Lloyds, Credit Suisse. Airbnb joined the club in 2016.
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There are a few organizations that regularly monitor and publish reports on trends in the data science world. To fully grasp the importance and potential of R in marketing research it makes sense to mention a few key metrics of the most influential industry reports.
Rexer Analytics is a US-based company that offers business analytics and marketing research services. The company surveys data scientists every other year. Results of a 2015 survey reported growth in
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Another ranking worth looking at is the TIOBE Index by a Dutch company specializing in assessing and tracking the quality of software. The TIOBE index is structured to be an indicator of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the popularity of programming languages according to their relevance on the web.
Burtch Works specializes in finding the perfect placement for highly qualified quantitative business professionals in marketing research and related fields. They've been holding a flash survey for the past three years in which they compare SAS and R, and since 2016 also Python. In the study, data scientists are being asked just one question: "Which do you prefer to use — SAS, R or Python."
R is becoming a tool of choice for more and more data analysts. On charts below, you can see that according to Burtch Works survey R is the second choice for a data scientist, but because of its flexibility, it is the driving force for predictive analytics. For all research practitioners that want to conduct both types of analysis and at some time in the future implement machine learning to their marketing research processes, R is the best choice.
Marketing research is a little behind other industries. A gap we aim to fill by providing the industry with Nebu Data Hub and by organizing a 3-day R training for researchers that will take place in March 2018 in the Netherlands. Answers analyzed by years of experience and education confirm that R is becoming a standard tool in universities. R is the most popular choice among data scientists with a Master degree and with five years of experience. The older generation is still choosing SAS over R, even though even in that segment the importance of R is steadily growing. 
To discover more details read our blog post about main benefits of R or register for the 3-day R training designed for specific needs of marketing researchers to learn how to apply R to increase effciecincy of your projects.
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