PH125.1x: Data Science: R Basics - Course Syllabus
Course Instructor
Rafael Irizarry
Course Description
In this first course of nine in the HarvardX Data Science Professional Certificate, we learn the basic building blocks of R.
The demand for skilled data science practitioners in industry, academia, and
Throughout the series, we will be using the R software environment for all our analysis. You will learn R, statistical concepts, and data analysis techniques simultaneously. In this course, we will introduce basic R syntax to get you going. However, rather than cover every R skill you need, we introduce just enough to get you going with the next courses in this series, which will provide more
Using a motivating case study, we ask specific questions related to crime in the United States and provide a relevant dataset. You will learn some basic R skills to permit us to answer these questions.
HarvardX has partnered with DataCamp for all assignments in R that allow students to program directly in a browser-based interface. You will not need to download any special software, but an up-to-date browser is recommended.
What you'll learn:
- how to read, extract, and create datasets in R
- how to perform a variety of operations and analyses on datasets using R
- how to write your own functions/sub-routines in R
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Course Structure
Grading
All graded components of the course are DataCamp assignments: The nine programming exercises are worth 100% of your grade.
All other components of the course, such as
Certification
In order to receive a Verified Certificate, you must sign up and pay for a Verified Certificate by the deadline on the course page and earn a passing grade of at least 70%.
COURSE OUTLINE
Section 1: R Basics, Functions, and Data Types
You will get started with R and learn about R's functions and data types.
Section 2: Vectors and Sorting
You will learn to operate on vectors and advanced functions such as sorting.
Section 3: Indexing, Data Manipulation, and Plots
You will learn to wrangle, analyze and visualize data.
Section 4: Programming Basics
You will learn to use general programming features like 'if-else', and 'for loop' commands to write your own functions to perform various operations on datasets.
FAQS
What is the deadline to sign up for a Verified Certificate?
The deadline is listed on the right side of the course landing page.
How do I earn a certificate?
To earn a certificate, you must sign up for a Verified Certificate by the deadline and earn a grade of at least 70%. When you achieve this score, a view your certificate button will appear on your dashboard. For more information, click on this link.
How do I upgrade to a verified certificate?
Go to your edX Dashboard (by clicking the
How long does the course take?
That is up to you! It is 4 weeks of content. Just be aware of the course close date on the right side of the course landing page!
I am doing well on the assessments, but when I look under "Progress" I have a very low grade...why?
The grade is calculated based on all of the assessments you have completed and the assessments that you have not completed (edX says you have a "zero" on those assessments until you have attempted them). You will see your overall grade move up as you progress through the course.
Installing R
Once you decide to install R, you can download it freely from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). It is relatively straightforward, but if you need further help you can try the following resources:
How often will the courses be offered?
Courses in the program are offered frequently, with overlap - so if now isn’t a good time for you to start one of the courses you need as a prerequisite or if you missed a deadline, there will be another offering of the course you need coming soon!
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Does the order of courses in the Professional Certificate Program matter?
Yes,
- R Basics
- Visualization
- Probability
- Inference and Modeling
- Productivity Tools
- Wrangling
- Linear Regression
- Machine Learning
- Capstone
Do I need to register for all of the courses at once in order to be eligible for the Professional Certificate?
No! You can take courses individually - once you have obtained an ID Verified Certificate in each course, you will be eligible for the Professional Certificate. If you choose to pre-pay for the entire program, you receive a discount on the total registration cost.
Online R references
- R reference card (PDF) by Tom Short (more can be found under Short Documents and Reference Cards here)
- Quick-R: quick online reference for data input, basic statistics
and plots - R programming class on Coursera, taught by Roger Peng, Jeff Leek
and Brian Caffo
R books
- Software for Data Analysis: Programming with R (Statistics and Computing) by John M. Chambers (Springer)
- S Programming (Statistics and Computing) by Brian D. Ripley and William N. Venables (Springer)
- Programming with Data: A Guide to the S Language by John M. Chambers (Springer)
No! You can take courses individually - once you have obtained an ID Verified Certificate in each course, you will be eligible for the Professional Certificate. If you choose to pre-pay for the entire program, you receive a discount on the total registration cost.
Research
HarvardX pursues the science of learning. When you participate in this course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement to learn more.