Introduction to data analysis with R

The University of Tokyo

Online

April 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 2021

10:00 am - 12:00 pm (JST)

Instructors: Joel Nitta, Riku Takei

Helpers: Tom Kelly, Kozo Nishida, Masami Yamaguchi, Satoshi Yokota

General Information

(日本語のサイトはこちらです).

Software Carpentry aims to help researchers get their work done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic research computing skills. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including program design, version control, data management, and task automation. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.

Please note this workshop will be conducted in Japanese.

For more information on what we teach and why, please see our paper "Best Practices for Scientific Computing".

Who: The course is open to graduate students and other researchers at the University of Tokyo. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

Where: This training will take place online. The instructors will provide you with the information you will need to connect to this meeting.

When: April 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 2021. Add to your Google Calendar.

Requirements: Participants must have access to a computer with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below).

Accessibility: We are dedicated to providing a positive and accessible learning environment for all. Please notify the instructors in advance of the workshop if you require any accommodations or if there is anything we can do to make this workshop more accessible to you.

Contact: Please email nitta@bs.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp for more information.

Roles: To learn more about the roles at the workshop (who will be doing what), refer to our Workshop FAQ.


Code of Conduct

Everyone who participates in Carpentries activities is required to conform to the Code of Conduct. This document also outlines how to report an incident if needed.


Collaborative Notes

We will use this collaborative document for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.


Schedule

April 2

10:00 Welcome and Introductions
11:00 Install software
12:00 END

April 7

10:00 Introduction to R and RStudio
11:00 Break
11:10 Project Management with RStudio
12:00 END

April 9

10:00 Data Structures
11:00 Break
11:10 Exploring Data Frames
12:00 END

April 14

10:00 Exploring Data Frames (continued)
11:00 Break
11:10 Data Visualization
12:00 END

April 16

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The above schedule is approximate, and actual contents may vary

Lesson curricula are available here


Setup

To participate in a Software Carpentry workshop, you will need access to the software described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.

We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.

Install the videoconferencing client

If you haven't used Zoom before, go to the official website to download and install the Zoom client for your computer.

Set up your workspace

Like other Carpentries workshops, you will be learning by "coding along" with the Instructors. To do this, you will need to have both the window for the tool you will be learning about (a terminal, RStudio, your web browser, etc..) and the window for the Zoom video conference client open. In order to see both at once, we recommend using one of the following set up options:

  • Two monitors: If you have two monitors, plan to have the tool you are learing up on one monitor and the video conferencing software on the other.
  • Two devices: If you don't have two monitors, do you have another device (tablet, smartphone) with a medium to large sized screen? If so, try using the smaller device as your video conference connection and your larger device (laptop or desktop) to follow along with the tool you will be learning about.
  • Divide your screen: If you only have one device and one screen, practice having two windows (the video conference program and one of the tools you will be using at the workshop) open together. How can you best fit both on your screen? Will it work better for you to toggle between them using a keyboard shortcut? Try it out in advance to decide what will work best for you.
This blog post includes detailed information on how to set up your screen to follow along during the workshop.

R

R is a programming language that is especially powerful for data exploration, visualization, and statistical analysis. To interact with R, we use RStudio.

Install R by downloading and running this .exe file from CRAN. Also, please install the RStudio IDE. Note that if you have separate user and admin accounts, you should run the installers as administrator (right-click on .exe file and select "Run as administrator" instead of double-clicking). Otherwise problems may occur later, for example when installing R packages.

Video Tutorial

You can download the binary files for your distribution from CRAN. Or you can use your package manager (e.g. for Debian/Ubuntu run sudo apt-get install r-base and for Fedora run sudo dnf install R). Also, please install the RStudio IDE.

10:00 Data Visualization (continued)
11:00 Break
11:10 Producing Reports with RMarkdown/td> </tr>
12:00 END