Introduction to R and
RStudio
2022 Virtual Training on Data Disaggregation and Small Area Estimation for the SDGs –
22-25 November 2022, INStaD Benin, INSTAT Mali, Stats South Africa, Statistics Botswana
General overview
Relevant
R is stakeholders
a programming language for statistical computing, data analytics and
scientific research. It is one of the most widely used languages by statisticians,
data analysts and researchers to manage, manipulate, analyze and visualize
data.
Rstudio is an integrated development environment for R that allows users to
interact more easily with R by integrating different aspects of scripting, from
code completion to debugging.
Note: On July 27, 2022, it was announced that Rstudio was changing its name to
Posit to move from an R-exclusive tool to a language agnostic system.
In order to use RStudio, R needs to be installed first.
R and RStudio Installation
Step 1: Go to the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) website and
click on “Download R for Windows” (or “Download R for MacOS”).
Step 2: Click on the “base” subdirectory link (or the package link, .pkg file).
Step 3: Click on “Download R-4.2.1 for Windows” (the R version available
might be different depending on updates produced after the compilation of
this ppt). The link allows downloading an installer extension (.exe file).
Step 4: Run the .exe file and step through the installation wizard accepting
the default settings.
Once R is installed, you can then proceed to the installation of RStudio.
Step 5: Go to RStudio download website and click on the “Download
RStudio for Windows” button (or the link for the MacOS version).
Step 6: Run the .exe file and follow the installation instructions.
RStudio interface
Environment/History/
Connections/Tutorial
panes
Command Console
Files/Plots/Packages
/Help/Viewer panes
RStudio: command console
RStudio interface with editor window open
RStudio: editor window
RStudio: Environment/History/Connections/Tutorial panels
Import dataset tab
Import dataset tab (2)
Setting the working directory
RStudio: Files/Plots/Packages/Help/Viewer panels
Packages
Packages: extensions that contain code, data, and documentation in a
standardized format that can be installed and used by users of R to solve
specific analytical problems.
The base version of R already includes many useful packages that allow
performing elementary tasks such as simple calculations, data exploration, and
loading of text data files.
Complex tasks may require intensive coding using base packages functions, but
are made easier by user-supplied packages.
Packages (2)
To install a package from CRAN (the official repository for user contributed R
packages) and then load it, use the following commands:
install.packages(“name of the package”)
library(“name of the package”)
Another way to install packages is to use the Install Packages tab:
Packages (3)
R packages are sometimes updated to improve or modify functionality. It is
advisable to occasionally update the packages installed on your computer.
You can update your installed R packages in RStudio by clicking
the Update button in the toolbar in the Packages panel.
List of packages used in the training
For importing Description For data Description
manipulation
openxlsx Read, Write and Edit
xlsx Files dplyr A fast, consistent tool for
working with data frame
readxl Only read excel files
data.table Fast file reader, writer tidyr Tools to help to create tidy
haven Import and Export 'SPSS', data
'Stata' and 'SAS' Files
For various uses Description
Boruta Wrapper algorithm for all relevant Feature Selection
relaimpo Relative Importance of regressors in linear models
car Companion to Applied Regression
lme4 Fit linear and generalized linear mixed-effects models
RLRsim Exact (Restricted) Likelihood Ratio Tests for Mixed and
Additive Models
RColorBrewer Provides color schemes for graphics
List of packages used in the training
For analysis of complex For Small Area sae emdi mind SAEval
survey samples Estimation
survey For data ggplot2
ReGenesees visualization
For spatial data Description
raster Reading, writing, manipulating, analyzing and modeling
of spatial data.
tabularaster Tidy Tools for 'Raster' Data
sp Classes and methods for spatial data
rgdal Bindings for the 'Geospatial' Data Abstraction Library
sf Support for simple features, a standardized way to encode
spatial vector data
spdep Provide tools to study spatial dependence
geodata Functions for downloading of geographic data for use in
spatial analysis and mapping.
R basics
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES IN RSTUDIO
Thank you!
