Introduction to R: A 3 day workshop

29 September - 1 October 2010 

The Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity hosted a 3-day workshop that introduced members of ACEBB to the R statistical programming environment (R is a free, open-source statistical language available for Windows, Mac, and Unix/Linux systems).

The aim was to introduce basic ideas and concepts that are needed for effective use of R. We covered data input and output, basic data structures, data manipulation and the use of functions. The presentation was example-based, with particular focus on graphics and simple linear and generalised linear models. The R Commander Graphical User Interface was explored.

By the end of the workshop, participants were comfortable using R for simple data manipulation, graphics, using scripts and writing functions, and simple statistical models (with an understanding of how to generalise this knowledge to more complex analyses), and were able to use the help system and the web-based resources that are available to assist users of R.

The workshop was aimed at postgraduates and researchers with at least a basic level of statistical knowledge, and who wish to learn to use R, or to improve their competence with R.