2022 COSS Introduction to R

This is a short course for beginners with no previous knowledge and experience of R. We will begin with loading a dataset in a CSV file into R and doing some basic statistics with the dataset. We then look into how to group those R commands into an R function to avoid typing commands repeatedly when we need to redo the calculations. We move on to show how to automate the process of loading a bunch of CSV files and perform the same statistical tasks with R built-in commands and for loops. Naturally we start looking into the fundamental concepts of R programming, with focus on manipulation of lists, vectors, arrays and data frames. As an important feature and strength in statistical computing, we give a very brief introduction to the random number generators and statistical functions. We touch upon linear regression with simple, easy to understand examples. While walking through examples with datasets, we will emphasize on the most commonly used data structure - data frames - and show by examples how to manipulate cells, rows and columns in data frames. At the end of the course, we will dive into the R package ggplot2 from the amazing R tidyverse collection for data science packages. We will be demonstrating how to easily construct great graphics using Hadley Wickham's layered grammar of graphics.  No previous programming skill is required.

Registration opens: May 23, 2022 at 12:00 PM EDT.