R: Basic Introduction

R is a powerful, wide-spread and freely available language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. This basic introduction to R focuses on the technical aspects of data organisation, handling, exploration and presentation. This course is not an introduction to statistics, but lays the foundation to efficiently use statistical applications of R, which are introduced in other courses.

General information

Duration 9 hours
  • Basic concepts of the R language
  • Setup of the working environment in R and R Studio
  • Data handling & data structures
  • Data exploration & data analysis
  • Standard graphs & customisation
  • Basic hypothesis testing
No previous experience with programming languages is required. Basic knowledge of statistics is helpful.
Students and employees of the University of Zurich. This course is particularly suitable for students at the BSc/MSc-level.
Participants understand the basic concepts of the R language and are able to use R basics for their own data analysis.
Handouts will be distributed during the course.
This short course is a mixture between brief presentations, demonstrations (on-screen, using R and RStudio) and supervised exercises (“learning by doing”).

Dates

Code Instructor Dates Available seats Venue
FS26-ARE-02 Koch Tiziana Li Thu 12 February 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
Thu 19 February 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
Thu 26 February 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
4 Universität Zürich Irchel Register
FS26-ARE-01 Schlegel Benjamin Tue 10 March 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
Tue 17 March 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
Tue 24 March 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
12 Universität Zürich Irchel Register
FS26-ARE-04 Koch Tiziana Li Thu 16 April 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
Thu 23 April 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
Thu 30 April 2026 (05:00pm - 08:00pm)
18 Universität Zürich Irchel Register
FS26-ARE-03 Bacigaluppi Paola Tue 09 June 2026 (05:30pm - 08:30pm)
Wed 10 June 2026 (05:30pm - 08:30pm)
Thu 11 June 2026 (05:30pm - 08:30pm)
14 Online Course Register