Appendix A — Installing or accessing R and RStudio

This resource uses R for data analysis. As a programming language, R, like any programming language or statistical software, is not perfect, but R does have the distinction of being a programming language that was created and developed for the purpose of making the analysis of data easier. RStudio may be thought of as a graphical user interface (GUI) for R. Think of R as the engine for a car, whereas RStudio is the dashboard, wheel, etc. that allows one to control the engine. Although RStudio is much more than a GUI, it will only be used as in interface for R in the modules. That is, R will not be used directly, rather R will always used through RStudio.

R and RStudio were selected for various reasons, including:

• R and RStudio are both free. You can install it on your Windows, mac, or linux personal computer.

• This software is relevant beyond the classroom: Some companies that use R/RStudio: Facebook John Deere, Twitter, National Weather Service, and countless others.

• Research becomes more reproducible and shareable! With R, one writes code for everything that is done and saved in a text file called an R script. This approach differs drastically to primarily point-and-click software (SPSS, Minitab, JMP, etc.). With R, if access to the original data and your R code is provided, the exact results of the data analysis become easily reproducible.

A.1 How to install R

Go to The Comprehensive R Archive Network page. Select the appropriate link and follow the instructions below based on your operating system.

Windows and Mac

To install R, follow these steps:

1. Go to The Comprehensive R Archive Network page.

2. Select the appropriate link for your operating system.

3. Select the “base” link, and then select the link at the top of the page that opens. This link should read “Download R … for [Operating System],” where … is the current version number (currently 4.2.0 as of July 2022).

4. Download the installer program, which installs the most up-to-date version of R for your operating system.

5. Run the installer program and go through the installation steps that appear, using the default selections.

Linux

R comes preinstalled on some Linux distributions, but you’ll want the newest version of R if yours is out of date. Files for building R from source on either Debian, Fedora, Redhat, SUSE, or Ubuntu distributions may be found by selecting the link “Download R for Linux.”. Select the appropriate distribution to obtain instructions and the source files for installation.

A.2 How to install RStudio

To install RStudio, follow these steps:

1. Visit the RStudio download page.

2. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page under “Installers for Supported Platforms.”

3. Click the link that corresponds to your operating system.

4. Download the RStudio installer.

5. Run the RStudio installer with the default settings

R and RStudio for Chrome OS

For Chromebook users, there is currently no R/RStudio app available for installation unless you are proficient in Linux. However, R and RStudio are accessible through the CSUB virtual lab (https://its.csub.edu/VCL).