Statistics for Biologists in R

Updated

This course is intended to provide a strong foundation in practical statistics and data analysis using the R software environment. The underlying philosophy of the course is to treat statistics as a practical skill rather than as a theoretical subject and as such the course focuses on methods for addressing real-life issues in the biological sciences using the R software package.

In this course we explore classical statistical analysis techniques starting with simple hypothesis testing and building up to multiple linear regression. The focus of the course is on practical implementation of these techniques and developing robust statistical analysis skills rather than on the underlying statistical theory.

After the course you should feel confident to be able to select and implement common statistical techniques using R and moreover know when, and when not, to apply these techniques.

This event is supported by the BBSRC Strategic Training Awards for Research Skills (STARS) grant (BB/P022766/1).

The training room is located on the first floor and there is currently no wheelchair or level access available to this level.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

• Graduate students, Postdocs and Staff members from the University of Cambridge, Affiliated Institutions and other external Institutions or individuals
• Please be aware that these courses are only free for registered University of Cambridge students. All other participants will be charged a registration fee in some form. Registration fees and further details regarding the charging policy are available here.
• Further details regarding eligibility criteria are available here

• Familiarity with the R language is essential.
• Basic knowledge of the R syntax. We recommend either attending Introduction to R for biologists, or working through the materials of the now discontinued An Introduction to Solving Biological Problems with R before attending this course.

Number of sessions: 2

Bioinformatics, Data handling, Statistical calculation

After this course you should be able to:

• Analyse datasets using classical statistical techniques (up to generalised linear models)
• Know when each test is and is not appropriate

During this course you will learn about:

• One and two sample hypothesis tests
• ANOVA
• Simple linear Regression
• ANCOVA
• Linear Models
• Model selection techniques

Presentations, demonstrations and practicals

• Free for registered University of Cambridge students
• £ 50/day for all University of Cambridge staff, including postdocs, temporary visitors (students and researchers) and participants from Affiliated Institutions. Please note that these charges are recovered by us at the Institutional level
• It remains the participant's responsibility to acquire prior approval from the relevant group leader, line manager or budget holder to attend the course. It is requested that people booking only do so with the agreement of the relevant party as costs will be charged back to your Lab Head or Group Supervisor.
• £ 50/day for all other academic participants from external Institutions and charitable organizations. These charges must be paid at registration
• £ 100/day for all Industry participants. These charges must be paid at registration
• Further details regarding the charging policy are available here

Participants may find it useful to look over this R tutorial

2

A number of times per year

• Introduction to R for Biologists (IN-PERSON)
• Statistical Analysis using R
• An Introduction to Machine Learning (ONLINE LIVE TRAINING)
• R object-oriented programming and package development
• CRUK: Data Carpentry in R