Good Data Visualisation with R

In Person

This course will focus on developing practical skills for visualising data in R, primarily using the ggplot2 package. A basic understanding of R is assumed, at the level covered in the Introduction to R and RStudio course, though participation in the previous course itself is not required in order to attend this workshop.  

The first session offers an introduction to the ggplot2 package and a practical demonstration of the package. It focuses on topics such as: 

• Ggplot2 syntax 

• Basic plots with ggplot2 

• Deeper customisation of plots, including labels, colour maps, and re-sizing/re-positioning legends 

• Exporting plots 

The second session focusses on some principles for using data visualisation in research. A more freeform practical exercise with example data is then offered, and attendees can attempt to replicate and improve visualisations. This covers processes that include: 

• Different types of plots and when and where each might be best used 

• The pitfalls of misleading data visualisation 

• Introduction to some more advanced visualisation possibilities 

The third session will cover the visualisation of textual data. Researchers often wish to work with unstructured text data, often collected from archives and the internet. We will discuss effective visualisation of this data, including: 

• Different types of plots and their areas of application 

• Plot design, common pitfalls, and what makes text data visualisation effective 

The course will ultimately help to develop a foundational understanding of Visualisation in R. Crucially, this will foster a familiarity with the principles of data visualisation and the capabilities of the software, allowing attendees to confidently apply these, or indeed seek out new concepts for their current and future research. 

This is an intermediate level course. Intermediate sessions explore specific aspects of the method (libraries, tools etc.). Students must have a basic background in R. This includes, at least the basic data types in R, how to install and load packages, and how to use functions, pipes, and apply/map functions. It will be sufficient for students to have taken the Introduction to R and RStudio. 

Those who have registered to take part will receive an email with full details on how to get ready for the course. 

After taking part in this event, you may decide that you need some further help in applying what you have learnt to your research. If so, you can book a Data Surgery meeting with one of our training fellows. 

More details about Data Surgeries. 

If you’re new to this training event format, or to CDCS training events in general, read more on what to expect from CDCS training. Here you will also find details of our cancellation and no-show policy, which applies to this event. 

If you are looking for other training on data visualisation you can look at the following:

• Digital Method of the Month: Data Visualisation 

• Silent Disco: Effective Data Visualisation 

• Data Carpentry: From Data Wrangling to Data Visualisation

Return to the Training Homepage to see other available events.