Biochemistry Computational Research Facility (BCRF)

Tabular data analysis with R and Tidyverse

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Quick link to material: Tabular data analysis with R and Tidyverse

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“Caching the moon…”

Does data analysis feel like the impossible job of “catching the moon?”

Fortunately R and RStudio are great tools to analyze data and illustrate conclusions, while at the same time keeping records and create “live” documents that can be updated with “just one click.”

These documents knit the story, the computation code, results and graphics into a neat output, making things neater thanks to the knitr package in R. This is part of the “Reproducible research” movement to provide transparency and reproducibility in data analysis.

Tabular data analysis with R and Tidyverse

I wrote a new course on using R and RStudio for data analysis that is more comprehensive than previous, smaller tutorials on the Biochemistry Computational Research Facility (bcrf.) This course material does not assume any prior knowledge making it suitable for complete beginners.

In addition the course first covers “Classic R” but later chapters include an introduction to the new Tidyverse paradigm that provides modern methods to analyze data using the concept of “data stream” and “pipeline” computation.

What is remarkable in both “Classic R” and Tidyverse compared  to working with a spreadsheet software is the fact that the original data is never touched and therefore the method avoids accidental errors such as inadvertently overwriting a cell. The analysis occurs on a copy of the data, keeping the original data safe and untouched.

The course material is available from this link: Tabular data analysis with R and Tidyverse

  • The HTML format version is most useful for interactive learning: there are embedded videos and it is easy to copy/paste text or code.
  • The PDF version is more suitable for printing and is augmented by an extensive searchable Index. It is also easier to download as it is a single document.

Self-teaching

The material is written in a way that is conducive to “learn by doing” following demonstrations and examples. All code and all necessary materials and files are available and therefore it is possible to learn and acquire proficiency on one’s own with this course content. If there is interest, this could be the basis for an online tutorial series in the Fall.

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Credits: images from pixabay.com: moon in the basket by cocoparisienne. Column and spheres by CreativeMagic .