|
Dee Chiluiza, PhD Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts |
| Short manual series: |
Install R
Start by first installing R, this is the so called “Engine” that performs all the data analysis. Check their website to see which is the latest version, As November 2021, the latest version is 4.1.2. As a interesting note, they provide funny names to each version (Bird Hippie is the current one).
If you go to any of the Mirror pages, select any country close to your location. Do not over-think it, all of them host the same versions of R. Here is a direct link to the main CRAN page:
Once you select your preferred CRAN mirror, click Download (depending on your computer system) and install R.
Install R Studio
R Studio is the application that allows you a better control of your data analysis processes. We will talk about it on the “Introduction to R Studio page”.
Go to the R Studio website https://www.rstudio.com, look for R Studio under the products drop-down menu, then follow the link to the R Studio desktop free version. The current latest version is RStudio Desktop 2021.09.2+382.
Here’s a direct link to the download page: 
Remember to install R first (the engine) and then install R Studio (the utility that allow you to use R).
Technically speaking, you can run R codes by directly opening the R program, but that is not too practical. Thanks to the R Studio team (link) we have this nice application that makes our data analysis and programming lives a lot better.
My first recommendation after you install these two programs: Create a Project using your R Studio. You do not need any code to perform this task, and trust me, it will make your life even more easier. Go back to the main page and visit: Creating and using Projects to organize your files.
Disclaimer: This short series manual project is a work in progress. Until otherwise clearly stated, this material is considered to be draft version.
Dee Chiluiza, PhD
June 2021
Last update: 10 January, 2022
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
