Setup

Your Background

What do you know already?

• Excel, Numbers, Some sort of spreadsheet software

• SAS, SPSS, Minitab

• Any other programming language

• A text editor

• R

What is R?

• An open-source, free software environment

• “a system for statistical computation and graphics”

• R has some basic infrastructure:

  • CRAN: Central package repository
  • CRAN mirrors: copies of this repository hosted at various locations worldwide

Installing R

Hopefully this is done already. If not, for Windows or OS X:

• Go to http://www.r-project.org/

• Click the CRAN link on the left, and pick a download site (0-Cloud is a good choice)

• Choose link based on your OS

• On Windows, choose the “base” subdirectory to install R.

• On OS X, choose the .pkg file to install R.

Installing RStudio

This should also be done already, but if not…

• Browse to https://www.rstudio.com/

• Click on the “Download RStudio”

• Download RStudio Desktop Free

• Choose the installer appropriate for your platform

• If you are using a Mac, you may need to download XQuartz from https://www.xquartz.org/

  • If you run into issues, try downloading this to see if it helps, especially with certain graphics.

Let’s take a look

R Studio IDE Cheatsheet

Creating a R File

• Creates a R File that you are able to save and edit

Project Management

• Important to understand your file structure and where you save everything
• Working directory
• “Default location where R will look for files you want to load and where it will put any files you save” source

• Easier way to set Working Directory:
  • Session -> Set Working Directory -> Choose Directory
  • Point and Click Method

Project Management: R Projects

• What are R Projects?
  • When working on your research it is beneficial to keep all associated files with a project together.
  • Sets your working directory for you
• How to Create One?
  • File -> New Project -> New Directory -> New Project
  • If already have a folder created: File -> New Project -> Existing Directory
  • This will take you to a page where you create a folder and then the file path to that folder (subdirectory)

Reference for creating RStudio Projects \(\\\)

RStudio Projects Website

Your Turn: Create a Project Together for this Workshop

• Create a RStudio Project for the workshop that you can use throughout the week.
  • You can save R files along with the datasets, so you won’t have to set your working directory each day.
• Save 2-MotivatingExample.R from the website in your project
  • This is the file we are going to use in the next section