Introduction to R with data pre-processing and visualisation

This course aims to provide you with an introduction to the analytical programming language R. The course will focus on data pre-processing and visualisation, two of the key steps in understanding and generating insights from data. During the course you will learn about the benefits or R, how R handles different data types and how you can begin to use R to solve complex data science, machine learning and statistical problems. Specifically, you will work with R and its various packages to import, clean, manipulate and visualise real world data. The course assumes no knowledge of R or statistics.

Programme objectives

o    To familiarise attendees with R, including the RStudio integrated development environment.

o    To learn more about the broader R ecosystem – i.e. packages that extend the functionality of ‘base R’.

o    To introduce R’s syntax and a variety of primary functions.

o    To learn how to tidy and manipulate data using R.

o    To learn how to utilise data visualisations to communicate your results.

Who teaches the programme

o    Dr Richard Hodgett (Leeds University Business School)

Richard is a lecturer in Business Analytics and Decision Science at Leeds University Business School. He teaches on the BSc Business Analytics and MSc Business Analytics and Decision Science programs.

o    Dr Conor McDonald (Leeds University Business School)

Conor is a lecturer in International Business at Leeds University Business School and uses R regularly to tidy, pre-process and analyse complex data.

Is this course for me

R is one of the most popular and fastest growing programming languages and is the most popular data mining tool in business and academia. One of the key strengths of R is its great versatility for data manipulation, exploration and testing, not to mention its ability to produce publication ready graphics. Despite this, R’s lack of “point and click” functionality can be intimating for first time users. In this course we aim to demystify R by providing you with practical hands-on experience of using R to explore and analyse your data. The three hour session assumes no prior experience of R, just a keen willingness to learn! We hope to see you there.

Costs

£30 – Studnets
£50 – University, public and charitable sector staff
£150 – All others

For further information please contact Eleri Pound