Overview
R is a programming language and software environment primarily focused on performing statistics, data analysis and visualisation. This course will provide an all-purpose introduction to the R programming language and may provide an accessible entry to computer programming in general.
Throughout the workshop learners will be taught using RStudio and introduced to best practices from the beginning including how to document your work in a script. Over three sessions you will learn how to import, manage and process data for statistical analysis and visualisation. At the end of the workshop the participants will have a solid understanding of how to run R commands and the properties of R objects, providing a solid basis for self-guided learning of more complex analyses.
This course will cover:
- how to use Rstudio to write scripts and run R commands
- the different types of objects for storing data and the importance of different data types
- how to read in data, manipulate it and save the output
- how to visualise data in commonly used figures
- how to perform some basic inferential statistical tests
- definitions of fundamental programming terminology and concepts such as variable, function, for loops that is transferable to other programming languages
Pre-requisite knowledge
This is a course for novices so there is no pre-requisite knowledge.
Workshop Format
This a hybrid workshop run over 3 sessions. The schedule can be found here.
Upcoming course dates
| Dates | Time | Venue | Sign up link | Registration closes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8th, 15th & 22th March 2023 | 10am-1pm | Training Room 4, Old Library | 1st March 2023 |
Please note that our workshops are very popular, and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. You can register your interest for this course using the link above. Registration will close ~ 1 week before the workshop is scheduled to start. Your place will be confirmed during the week of the workshop.
Set-up instructions for attendees
Students will need to bring their own laptops and are expected to have preinstalled both R and Rstudio. Installation instructions are available here.
Start course
If you are unable to attend any of the dates above the notes for this course are available here and are freely available to work through in your own time.
Follow up courses
On completion of these course you will be invited to join a network of other participants. This is a supportive forum for you to ask follow up question and receive tailed invites to follow on courses.
Feedback
Please remember to complete a feedback survey. Our workshops are under continual review and your experiences, suggestions and criticism are invaluable for shaping the direction of this initiative. This is especially important if you complete the materials in your own time as it enables us to measure impact. If you have ideas on other courses you would like to see then please contact Eilis Hannon e.j.hannon@exeter.ac.uk.
Join us
If you are interested in becoming part of our community of workshop helpers, leaders and developers please contact E.J.Hannon@exeter.ac.uk.
Acknowledgements
This course has been developed by a Coding for Reproducible Research working group who are enthuastic about sharing their knowledge with the wider research community. If you have benefited in any way from this course and want to support it’s long term sustainablity then please take the time to complete our feedback survey, recommend it to your collegues, and enthuse about it to your senior leadership team.
This workshop is brought to you by the University of Exeter Research Software Engineering Group, University of Exeter Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Exeter Researcher Development and the University of Exeter Doctoral College.