Rutgers University Libraries Data Services Workshop Series (New Brunswick)

September 2014

This Fall, Ryan Womack, Data Librarian, will give a series of workshops on statistical software, data visualization, and data management, as part of the Libraries Data Services.  This announcement outlines the schedule of workshops for the first weeks of September, and provides a preview of upcoming October events.  To go directly to the registration page, click here.  A detailed calendar and descriptions of each workshop are below.

Logistics

All workshops for Fall 2014 will be held in Room 413 on the 4^th floor of Alexander Library (169 College Avenue).  Workshops are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:10-2:30 pm according to the schedule below.  Room capacity is limited to 25.

Room 413 has R installed on its workstations.  You are also welcome to bring your laptop if you want to follow along with the exercises, but this is not required.  SPSS, Stata, and SAS sessions will use the apps.rutgers.edu remote system.

If you can’t make the workshops, or would like a preview or refresher, screencast versions of many of the presentations are already available  at http://libguides.rutgers.edu/data.  Additional screencasts will be added for the newer workshops in the series.

Calendar of workshops

	Tuesday		Thursday
Sept 9	Intro to R, part I, Statistical Functions		Intro to SPSS	Sept 11
Sept 16	Intro to R, part II, Graphics		Intro to Stata	Sept 18
Sept 23	Intro to R, part III, Data Manipulation
Sept 30	Data Visualization, part I, Principles & Use in lattice and ggplot2		Intro to SAS	Oct 2
Oct 7	Data Visualization, part II, Miscellany of Methods		Best Practices for Managing your Research Data	Oct 9
Oct 14	Data Visualization, part III, 3-D, Interactive and Big Data			Oct 16
Oct 21	Time Series in R		Data Management Plans, Data Sharing and Archiving	Oct 23
Oct 28	Survival Analysis in R		Reproducible Research	Oct 30

 Register for the workshops here

Description of Workshops:

§ Introduction to R (Sept 9, Sept 16, and Sept 23) – This 3-part series provides an orientation to the R programming environment.  R is freely available, open source statistical software that has been widely adopted in the research community.  Due to its open nature, thousands of additional packages have been created by contributors to implement the latest statistical techniques, making R a very powerful tool.  No prior knowledge is assumed. The three parts cover:

(Sept 9) Part I – Statistical Techniques: getting around in R, descriptive statistics, regression, significance tests, working with packages

(Sept 16) Part II – Graphics:  comparison of graphing techniques in base R, lattice, and ggplot2 packages

(Sept 23) Part III – Data Manipulation:  data import and transformation, additional methods for working with large data sets

Additional R resources, including handouts, scripts, and screencast versions of the workshops, can be found here: http://libguides.rutgers.edu/data_R

R is freely downloadable from http://r-project.org

 

§ Introduction to SPSS (Sept 11) provides a single session overview of navigating the basics of SPSS.  SPSS is widely used statistical software with strengths in survey analysis and other social science disciplines.  If you are already using SPSS with some degree of success, this session may be too basic for you.

Copies of the workshop materials, a screencast, and additional SPSS resources can be found here: http://libguides.rutgers.edu/content.php?pid=115296&sid=1208425

SPSS is made available by OIRT at a discounted academic rate, currently $100/academic year.  Find it at software.rutgers.edu.  SPSS is also available in campus computer labs and via the Apps server (see below).

 

§ Introduction to Stata (Sept 18) provides a single session overview of navigating the basics of Stata.  Stata is flexible and allows relatively easy access to programming features.  It is popular in economics among other areas. If you are already using Stata with some degree of success, this session may be too basic for you.

Copies of the workshop materials, a screencast, and additional Stata resources can be found here: http://libguides.rutgers.edu/content.php?pid=115296&sid=1208427

Stata is made available by OIRT via campus license with no additional charge to install for Rutgers users.  Find it at software.rutgers.edu.

 

§ Introduction to SAS (Oct 2) provides a single session overview of navigating the basics of SAS.  SAS is a powerful and long-standing system that handles large data sets well, and is popular in the pharmaceutical industry, among other applications. If you are already using SAS with some degree of success, this session may be too basic for you.

Copies of the workshop materials, a screencast, and additional SAS resources can be found here: http://libguides.rutgers.edu/content.php?pid=115296&sid=1208423

SAS is made available by OIRT at a discounted academic rate, currently $100/academic year.  Find it at software.rutgers.edu.  SAS is also available in campus computer labs and via the Apps server (see below).
 

Note: Accessing software via apps.rutgers.edu

SPSS, SAS, Stata, and R are available for remote access on apps.rutgers.edu.  apps.rutgers.edu does not require any software installation, but you must activate the service first at netid.rutgers.edu.

In October, the workshops will continue at the same times (Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, 1:10-2:30), also in Alexander Library 413.

On Tuesdays, the R series will continue, including:

§ Data Visualization in R  in 3 parts (basics, more methods, interactive & big data)

§ Time Series in R 

§ Survival Analysis in R 

 

On Thursdays, other topics in Data Management will be addressed, including:

§ Data Management Best Practices 

§ Data Management Plans, Data Sharing and Archiving

§ Reproducible Research

Additional data management resources can be found here: http://libguides.rutgers.edu/data,management

 

Logistics, again

To repeat, all workshops will be held in room 413 on the 4^th floor of Alexander Library (169 College Avenue).  Workshops run from 1:10-2:30 pm.

 Register for the workshops here