Over the past two weeks I have read through Getting Started with R and Managing Data Frames with the dplyr package in Peng’s textbook. After downloading R and R Studio, I followed along with the example given by Peng on air pollution and temperature data for Chicago in R Studio to work on the memorization of key verbs that will help in data analysis. By following along with this example, the language used in R Studio seemed simple enough.
However, after a week of practicing this I have been getting confused when trying to figure out how to apply the language to other data. For example, I’ve been looking at some of the sample data posted on the course site, specifically for Reefs of the Future: Resilience of Coral Reefs in the Main Hawaiian Islands. I chose to look at this data because I’ve always been interested in ocean life and sustainability and because I would like to use this data for my project, but I’ve been having trouble using it in R Studio for some reason. I have a feeling it may be because I’m not using the programming language properly or I’m mistyping the verbs. I plan on practicing more with it this weekend and re-reading the text. If need be I’ll look up some examples and tutorials online if I get really stuck.