Workshop October 2020: Foundations of R: Online

A 2-day a step by step interactive introduction to the free open-source R and RStudio programs. A mix of lectures and hands-on exercises to introduce R to participants with no previous experience.

 

This course is being held online via Zoom and run on Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT +10)

 

Dates: 
Friday, October 2, 2020 - Saturday, October 3, 2020
Early bird cutoff date: 
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Course details:

This 2-day workshop covers the foundations of using the free open-source R and RStudio programs to run their analysis. The course is a mix of lectures and hands-on exercises to introduce participants to the foundations for using R and RStudio.

 

 

This course will be offered online via Zoom And will run to the following timetable:

9.30am -11.00am: Instructional Zoom session
11.00am-11.30am: Break
11.30am-12.30pm: Instructional Zoom session
12:30pm-1.30pm: Lunch
1.30pm-3.00pm: Instructional Zoom session
3.00pm-3.30pm: Break
3.30pm-4.30pm:  Exercises

 

Please note: Courses will run on Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT +10)

 

 

 
Workshop - runs over 2 days
Instructor: 

Dr Joanna Dipnall is an applied statistician with interests in the advanced statistical methods, including machine learning and deep learning techniques. She completed her Honours in Econometrics with Monash University and her PhD with IMPACT SRC, School of Medicine, Deakin University. Joanna works extensively with registry and linked medical data and collaborates extensively with the Faculty of IT at Monash to supervise Masters and PhD students to integrate artificial intelligence within health research. Joanna teaches within the Monash Biostatistics Unit and is the Unit Co-coordinator for the Monash Masters of Health Data Analytics course. Joanna has taught advanced statistical methods for many years at universities and for ACSPRI.

Course dates: Friday 2 October 2020 - Saturday 3 October 2020
Course status: Course completed (no new applicants)
Venue: 
Online
Week: 
Week 1
About this course: 

This course is a step by step interactive introduction for participants with no experience with R and RStudio. Notes will be provided and a set of exercises, covering a variety of data sets, will be run together during the lecture and also individually at the end of the day. The course content is particularly suited for those involved in research in the business, education, social and health sciences.

 

Participants will first be introduced to the foundations of R such as libraries, matrix manipulation, objects, and data frames. Participants will use R Markdown in RStudio to generate reports, tables and graphics to Word, PDF and HTML files. Once the foundations have been covered a variety of data management skills will introduced (e.g. filtering data, merging data). The production of descriptive statistics tables and graphs will be covered so that participants can easily use RStudio to explore data and produce reports.

 

The last session on each day will finish with a set of exercises for participants to run on their own and practice what they have learned that day. Please note that due to the short 2-day structure, there will not be any time set aside for analysing participant’s own data.

 

Course syllabus: 

Day 1

  • Lecture 1: Foundations of R and data management skills
  • Lecture 2: Producing basic statistics, tables and basic graphs
  • Day 1 exercises in R

 

Day 2: 

  • Lecture 1: Producing your first simple report in R
  • Lecture 2: Extending data management skills
  • Day 2 exercises in R

 

Course format: 

This workshop will take place online via Zoom.

Classes will run for approximately 1.5 hours for the interactive lectures and 1 hour for the exercise classes.

Participants are required to use their own laptop and have downloaded R and RStudio prior to the workshop

Recommended Background: 

This course assumes that participants have:

(1) A reasonable understanding of statistics to be able to comprehend the basic statistics such as mean, median and interquartile range.

(2) Some familiarity with a PC environment including keyboard skills and understanding of folder and file structures.

(3) Some experience in using Microsoft Word and Excel or their equivalent.

It does not assume prior experience with R, Stata, SAS, SPSS or any other specific statistical packages although any such experience would be helpful.

Recommended Texts: 

Course notes will be supplied.

 

No specific references are suggested but participants might find the following text useful:

  • “Discovering Statistics Using R” by Andy Field and Jeremy Miles.
  • “Data Analysis and Graphics Using R” by John Maindonald and W. John Braun.
Course fees
Member: 
$1,480
Non Member: 
$2,280
Full time student Member: 
$1,280
Participant feedback: 

 

The workshop was focused heavily on applying the skills Jo taught us through R and R studio which made it a valuable course. (Nov 2019)

 

ˆ I had never used R prior to this course, so its set me off on the right foot. (Nov 2019)

 

I obtained basic understanding of R which is what I was looking for. (Nov 2019)

 

Supported by: 

 

 

Terms and Conditions: 

1. BOOKING - ACSPRI does not accept ‘expressions of interest’ for course places, i.e. all bookings, are considered firm, and a cancellation fee is charged if you cancel your booking after the early-bird date.

 

2. DISCOUNT RATE – The discounted rate for ACSPRI members is available to all staff and students of member organisations. To be eligible for this rate:

The course fee must be paid by either the member organisation or by you. Where fees are paid by a non-member organisation the non-member rate applies:and
You must either have a valid email address issued by the member organisation; or you must hold, or have a right to hold, a current staff or student identity card from the member organisation.

In addition, to be eligible for a full time student discount the participant must:

Hold, or have a right to hold, a current student identity card from the member organisation;
Be enrolled as a full-time student;
Make payment in full with your application, arrange electronic funds transfer (EFT), or contact ACSPRI to advise credit card details for payment, by the early-bird closing date;
Provide ACSPRI with contact details of your supervisor, so we can request them to confirm your eligibility for the full time student rate.

The early bird rate applies to all bookings paid in full by the early bird close date, otherwise you will be charged at the standard rate.

 

 

3. REFUNDS & CANCELLATIONS - Course fees are not refundable unless:

we cancel the course in which you have enrolled; or
you cancel your enrolment before the early-bird closing date.

A cancellation fee of $250 will be charged if you cancel within the period from the early-bird closing date of and one week prior to the commencement of the program. The full course fee will be charged if you cancel within 1 week of the beginning of your course.

 

4. PRE-REQUISITES - Course descriptions specify course pre-requisites. You must undertake to meet the pre-requisites of the course(s) in which you enrol. If in any doubt, you should contact ACSPRI prior to enrolling.

Venues: 

Delivery of this course is online - via Zoom.

 

Please ensure you have the following:

  • Reliable Internet connection with at least 5Gb per day of data available (i.e. a 5 day course will use about 25Gb of data just on the Zoom application)
  • A computer/laptop with the Zoom application installed (free)
  • A webcam (built in to most laptops)
  • A headset with a microphone (not required but ideal)
  • A second monitor/screen if possible

 

Please also check the course page for specific software requirements (if any).

 

Venue and Timetable: 

You will be attending from home, and each course may specify a slightly different timing schedule. Please expect around 4 "contact" hours per day, with the remainder of the usual working day for exercises, group work and self-directed activities.

All times specified are in Australian Eastern Time (Melbourne/Sydney/Canberra time)