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CMU Libraries Open Data Science Workshops

Introduction to R: Getting started with R and RStudio

Hosted by the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Libraries

About this Workshop

This 2-part introductory workshop aims to teach basic concepts, skills, and tools for working with data in R so that you can get more done in less time, and apply concepts of reproducibility to your research. This is an introduction to R designed for participants with no programming experience. Part 1 of the workshop covers basic information about R syntax and the RStudio interface, including installing packages and working with vectors. Part 2 will cover importing CSV files, working with dataframes, how to deal with factors, how to add/remove rows and columns using the popular dplyr package, and how to calculate summary statistics from a data frame. Taking Part 1 and Part 2 is encouraged, but optional.

Learners should bring a laptop and should already have installed R and RStudio on their computer. __

Presenters

Di Yoong (they/them)
Social Sciences Librarian.
Office: 109F, Hunt Library
dyoong@andrew.cmu.edu

Sarah Young (she/her)
Social Sciences Librarian
Office: 109G, Hunt Library
sarahy@andrew.cmu.edu

Goals of this Workshop

Part 1

  • Describe the different panes in the RStudio environment and how they are used when coding in R.
  • Run lines of R code from a script file to the console.
  • Create and store new objects in R.
  • Find help information for functions.
  • Use functions in R with appropriate syntax and arguments.
  • Define, create and manipulate vectors in R.

Part 2

  • Install packages and load libraries in R.
  • Import a dataset and use tidyverse functions to explore dataset attributes.
  • Create subsets of dataframes.
  • Work with categorical variables in R.
  • Use the dplyr package to select columns and filter rows.
  • Use the dplyr package to perform various operations on a dataframe such as creating new variables, splitting and combining data, and summarizing data.
  • Use pipes in R to string together a series of steps.
  • Export a data set from R Studio.

Schedule TBD

Slides

Click on the slides then press CTRL+Shift+F for full screen.

Workshop assessments

Part 1

Pre-workshop survey
Post-workshop survey

Part 2

Pre-workshop survey
Post-workshop survey

Acknowledgements

The lesson materials and slides for this workshop were largely adapted from the Data Carpentries lesson “R for Social Scientists”. Content was adapted and reformatted for the CMU Libraries workshop series by Patrick Campbell.

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