Winter Semester 2021/2022 “Statistics with R”

In the winter semester 2021/2022, the Department of Biometry & Environmental System Analysis offers an M.Sc. module on “Statistics with R”. The course will take place from the 18th of October to the 5th of November 2021.

Syllabus

Eventually, students will have to deal with statistical analyses during their Master Program, either during more advanced courses or during their project work and theses. R is a popular language and environment that allows powerful analysis and presentation of data, offering many statistical and graphical options. Because it is free and has a huge user community, R is the leading software of choice when analysing environmental data.

This course aims to introduce R as a tool for statistics and graphics, with the main aim being to become comfortable with the R environment and basic statistical packages. It will focus on entering and manipulating data in R, running statistical analyses, and producing graphs. The second objective of the course is to teach standard statistical methods used in environmental data analysis. The course is a unique opportunity for students to become familiar with R and basic environmental statistics early during their career, so to facilitate future handling of statistical analyses. It is aimed specifically at students without any prior experience with R. Students having finished their BSc in Freiburg will typically not require this course.

The class will be held for 3 weeks. Hands-on lectures will be delivered every morning in the computer room, with homework expected to be carried out in the afternoons.

Specific topics:

- Getting started: data with R (data handling and data exploration)

- Getting started: graphics with R

- Classical non-parametric and parametric tests

- Regression

- Analysis of Variance and Covariance

- Generalized linear models

- Model selection and averaging

- Programming with R in practice (loops, writing your own functions etc.)

Prerequisites

It aims specifically at students without any prior experience with R. Students having finished their BSc in Freiburg will typically not require this course. The language will be English.

If you are interested:

Please apply to the course via HISinOne. The module number is 10LE07Ü-M.64071. In case of questions, please send an email to the module coordinator Dr. Arne Schröder (arne.schroeder(at)biom.uni-freiburg.de). The number of places is limited to 40 participants.