In psychology departments in South Africa, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) is routinely used for quantitative analysis. While SPSS has a user-friendly interface, it does not permit application of some of the more sophisticated analytic approaches and therefore has limited functionality. The programming language R can perform most statistical functions. However, research on user experiences of R and its integration into the psychology curriculum in South Africa is lacking in the literature. To better understand the acceptability of integrating R into psychology training at a local residential university, we interviewed ten staff and students with a background in psychology about their experiences of a six-session R training course in November 2017. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and the data were analysed thematically using ATLAS.ti v8. We identified three super-ordinate themes that provided insights into our participants' experiences of the software and the workshop. Participants spoke about the various advantages and useful functionalities of R and described it as a sought-after skill in research. They spoke about challenges they experienced with the software and preferred menu-driven software such as SPSS and perceived such tools as being easier to learn, time saving and more user-friendly. They also indicated that their limited statistical skills and knowledge influenced their willingness to pursue software like R in future. We found that there is sufficient curiosity and interest among staff and students in psychology about learning new statistical programs and integrating R into the curriculum.