Practical Data Management with R for Social Scientists
Next course runs from [[date]]
Practical Data Management with R for Social Scientists
Next course runs from [[date]]
Course description
Data management - the art and science of collecting, cleaning, and manipulating data - is an essential research skill for social scientists.
This course will seek to demystify these 'dark arts', and provide you with the foundation to tackle a wide range of practical data management tasks using the R programming language.
By the end of this course, you will possess the programming skills and experience to manage data in a wide variety of formats, in a reproducible manner, at scale.
Learning outcomes
This course will teach you:
For a bulk order of 5 or more learners on any of our courses, you can claim 50% discount. Contact us for more information.
Basic computer skills, and some experience working with any sort of statistical analysis software (Excel, SAS, Stata, SPSS) will be helpful.
You should have some experience working with datasets, such as datasets that record several different pieces of information about each individual.
Matt Denny is a PhD Candidate in Political Science and Social Data Analytics, and an NSF Big Data Social Science IGERT Fellow at Penn State University. Matt spends most of his time developing methods for analysing text and network data, which he applies to a wide range of projects related to: U.S. congressional and bureaucratic politics, organizational dynamics, international finance, and more recently, neuroscience. As part of his research, Matt works with a variety of large and complex datasets on a daily basis. Matt has also taught dozens of workshops on data management, high performance computing and “big data” analytics in R. To learn more about Matt Denny, check out his website: www.mjdenny.com
This course is broken up into five units, starting with basic R programming and working up through more advanced data management, web scraping, and finally big data/HPC techniques and issues. Each unit is broken up into a number of discrete topics, with video lectures and supporting materials associated with each topic. At the end of each unit, participants will be given a homework assignment that synthesizes what they have learned in that unit.
Each unit should take about a week, with the earlier units requiring a bit more time. Each topic builds on the previous topics, so it is designed to be completed in order, unless you have previous experience with a topic. In the lectures, Matt provides as much context and explanation for each new concept as possible. If you put in the work, and try out the code yourself, you should have a strong foundation to start working on serious data management tasks in R by the end of the course.
We know you’re busy so we don’t set module deadlines. You are free to login and learn whenever suits your schedule.
If you are able to commit to a few evenings a week, you will have completed the modules within approximately a month. However if you have a busy period, you have the flexibility to spread your module completion over a 3 months access period.
SAGE Campus will help you with any IT or platform issues you might have.
As well as introducing you to the course, this unit will teach you:
This unit will teach you about:
This unit will teach you how to:
This unit will give you:
This unit will focus on:
I enrolled in Practical Data Management with R as I continuously seek different ways of looking and analyzing my research data, and I want to keep abreast of the current trends in data sciences. The instructor did an excellent job. As a teacher Matt Denny was detailed-oriented, and employed a variety of teaching modalities including repetition to emphasize important aspects of the lesson, and illustration using examples to apply relevant concepts or procedures to follow. Most of all. I liked the aura of politeness in the way he talked throughout the course while explaining a complex topic. I think he has the qualities of a good teacher as evident during the concluding sections where he was able to inspire, motivate and encourage students to go beyond what this course has to offer.
I wish I had taken this course years ago when I started learning R. I'm much more confident now and I'm not even halfway through the course.
Thank You!
Please see below for answers to some of the most frequent questions we get about this course.
You will have access to the course material for 3 months.
All of our courses offer a certificate of completion signed by your instructor. You will be able to download this certificate, from the Learning Platform, when you complete the course.
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