Data Visualization Basics with R

Table of contents

Tutorial 1: How to think in R

Tutorial 2: A “first date” with your data in R / RStudio

Tutorial 3: Arguments, functions, and R computing basics

Tutorial 4: A “second date” with your data in R / RStudio

Tutorial 5: R data structures and types

Tutorial 6: Data wrangling with dplyr data verbs

Tutorial 7: The grammar of ggplot graphics

Tutorial 8: Color your data

Tutorial 9: Add regression lines to ggplots

Tutorial 10: Find and clean your data

About the tutorials

This is a set of tutorials to help you get you up and running with R and RStudio, and to get you started creating basic data visualizations using R.

At the top of nearly every tutorial you will find a page or chapter reference to a related textbook that may be helpful to consult as you are working through the tutorials:

• Kaplan, D. (2015). Data Computing: An Introduction to Wrangling and Visualization with R. St. Paul, MN: Project MOSAIC Books.

The tutorials also make use of a sample dataset obtained from they City of Minneapolis’ public website:

• City of Minneapolis. (2015). Public/private individual building results for calendar year 2015 [Dataset]. Retrieved from: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/environment/energy/benchmarking

You will want to download a .CSV copy of the dataset to use as you work through the tutorials, along with the codebook explaining the different variables present in the dataset. You can also download an audio interview explaining the story behind this dataset and discussing some of the variables, sources of error, and interesting questions you’ll encounter when working with this data:

• Minneapolis Energy Benchmarking - 2015 Dataset (.CSV)

• Minneapolis Energy Benchmarking - Codebook (.PDF)

• Minneapolis Energy Benchmarking - Audio Interview (.MP3) / (.OGG)

Simply right-click the links above and choose “Save link as…” to save a copy of these files to your computer.

Pro Tip: This is a pro tip

Pro tips look like this. “Pro tips” are small, helpful hints addressing issues or questions that commonly arise for each tutorial topic. Be sure to read these carefully, as they are intended to help you get “unstuck” and avoid some of the common mistakes you are likely to encounter as you get started learning R for data visualization.

Activity: This is a sample activity

Activities look like this. The tutorials contain activities which are designed to be completed sequentially as you work through each tutorial. Be sure to complete these as you go along, as they will help you reinforce your understanding of the topic being covered. Activities sometimes ask you to incorporate skills learned in previous tutorials, so you may also want to go back and review earlier tutorials if you find yourself getting stuck on a particular activity.