P1: Intro to R and 16S Data

Question 1

what is R

Answer 1

a programming language primarily used for statistics, data analysis, and geographical representations

Question 2

why learn R

Answer 2

• widely used in biology
• ideal for working with large datasets
• handles various data structures
• R code is great for reproducibility
• specialized packages/repositories
• active community and support, free and open resource
• highly values skill

Question 3

why learn R - how is it ideal for working with large data sets

Answer 3

excel does not work well with thousands of data

Question 4

why learn R: how is it ideal for working with large data sets - examples of large data sets

Answer 4

• genomics
• ecological
• microbial

Question 5

why learn R - how is it great for reproducibility

Answer 5

• script-based analysis
• its a written protocol and using this, you can run a script in any computer using the exact same package and you should get the exact same result
• easy to keep track of

Question 6

why learn R: specialized packages/repositories - define package

Answer 6

• software with different functions
• recipe for how to treat data

Question 7

why learn R: specialized packages/repositories - define repository

Answer 7

sites online to download packages

Question 8

why learn R: active community and support, free and open-source - what do we mean by open-source

Answer 8

• anyone can write a function and upload it onto a repository as a package
• can only be done is it is written in R

Question 9

why learn R - how is it a highly valued skill

Answer 9

• can be a significant advantage in academic, government, and industrial roles
• it is a highly sought-after skill for data analysis

Question 10

R data structure

Answer 10

1. vector
2. list
3. data frame
4. matrix
5. array

Question 11

R data structure - vector

Answer 11

• simplest to import data
• sequential set of variables

Question 12

R data structure - list

Answer 12

list of different vectors

Question 13

R data structure - data frame

Answer 13

• tables with variables and information in different columns and rows

Question 14

R data structure - matrix

Answer 14

• similar to a data frame
• but all columns need to have the same information (homogenous)
• typically numerical

Question 15

R data structure - array

Answer 15

groups of matrixes

Question 16

data types in R

Answer 16

• character: text
• numeric: numbers that can use mathematical operations and can be converted into character/text
• factor: splitting data into categories