Welcome to the R Workshop

This introductory workshop will help you get started with R programming, with a focus on data analysis in bioinformatics and health sciences. The workshop is structured over 4 days, with 2-hour sessions each day.

Instructor

Eren Ada, PhD
Research Associate in Immunology
Harvard Medical School
Email: eren_ada@hms.harvard.edu

Location & Schedule

TMEC 333 Conference Room
Tosteson Medical Education Center
260 Longwood Ave
Boston, MA 02115

Workshop Dates:

  • Day 1: February 11, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Day 2: February 13, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Day 3: February 18, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Day 4: February 20, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Workshop Overview

  • Introduction to R and RStudio
  • Data structures and manipulation
  • Data visualization with ggplot2
  • Statistical analysis and visualization
  • Best practices for scientific computing

Prerequisites

  • A laptop with R and RStudio installed
  • Basic understanding of programming concepts (helpful but not required)
  • Please follow our setup instructions before the workshop

Course Materials

Day 1: R Basics and Data Structures

  1. R Programming Basics
  2. R Markdown Basics
  3. Installing and Using Packages
  4. Objects and Variables
  5. Vectors and Matrices

Day 2: Working with Data

  1. Working with Data Frames
  2. Data Manipulation with dplyr and tidyr

Day 3: Data Visualization

  1. Data Visualization with ggplot2
  2. Advanced Plotting and Practice
    • Creating Publication-Ready Figures
    • Interactive Visualization Examples
    • Extended Practice Sessions

Day 4: Statistical Analysis

  1. Basic Statistical Analysis
  2. Advanced Topics and Workshop Wrap-up
    • Advanced Statistical Concepts
    • Q&A Session
    • Final Practice and Review

Getting Help

  • Use RStudio’s built-in help system (? or help() function)
  • Check the error messages carefully
  • Google the error message or problem
  • Ask questions during the workshop sessions
  • Contact the instructor: eren_ada@hms.harvard.edu

Additional Resources

© 2024 Eren Ada, Harvard Medical School. All rights reserved.

This material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially

Under the following terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
  • ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

For questions about usage or permissions, please contact eren_ada@hms.harvard.edu

File Formats

For each lesson, we provide three formats:

  • Markdown (.md): For viewing directly on the website
  • R Markdown (.Rmd): For downloading and running interactively in RStudio
  • HTML: Rendered versions are available but are meant for local viewing after downloading

Getting Help

  • Use RStudio’s built-in help system (? or help() function)
  • Check the error messages carefully
  • Google the error message or problem
  • Ask on Stack Overflow with the [r] tag