Introduction to R - Part I – Educational resources for teaching Open Research to novices

Introduction to R: Part I

---
title: "Introduction to R - Part I"
---

> Welcome to the R side.

[Click here to see the materials in full screen](r-part-I-slides.qmd)

```{=html}
<iframe class="slide-deck" src="r-part-I-slides.html" height="420" width="747" style="border: 1px solid #2e3846;"></iframe>
```

## About these materials

::: {.callout-warning collapse="true"}
## Citation statement
Please cite these materials as: Sanchez-Steinhagen, C. L., Sharma, T., Rieger, D., Waterfield, E., Middleton, S., & Von Grebmer zu Wolfsthurn, S. (2026). *Introduction to R: Part I* [Quarto slides]. [LMU Open Science Center](https://www.osc.lmu.de/). [https://lmu-osc.github.io/teaching-material-for-novices/open-research-tools/r-part-I](https://lmu-osc.github.io/teaching-material-for-novices/open-research-tools/r-part-I)
:::

**Welcome!** This workshop is intended to provide learners with an **introduction to R and RStudio**. Through hands-on exercises, you will learn how to **navigate the RStudio interface** and **use basic R programming skills** to work efficiently with your data. We will also learn how to **create and manipulate objects**, execute code, use functions with arguments, and access information stored in data frames within the R environment.

### Who are these materials for?

- **Educators** in higher education with or without familiarity with open research planning to **teach open research** to **novices**
- **Self-learners** with no or limited familiarity with open research planning to **develop and build** up on their open research skills

### Prerequisites

<div style="font-size: 0.8em;">
| Prerequisite   |  Description  | Where to find it   |
|------------|------------|------------|
| RStudio installed | Version 2026.04.0+526 or higher | [Download](https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/) |
| R installed | Version 4.6.0 or higher | [Download](https://www.r-project.org/) |
| Accessibility sheet for computers | Fundamentals of computer literacy | [Download here ](assets/Accessibility_sheet_for_computers_OSSS26.pdf) |
</div>

### Learning objectives

At the end of this session, you or your learners will be able to ...

- **Navigate** the RStudio interface (Console, Environment, Script, and Output panes).
- **Differentiate** between basic data types in R (numeric, character, logical, integer) and how they are used.
- **Execute** operations in the Console and R Script using appropriate operators.
- **Assign** and **re-assign** values, vectors, and lists to objects. 
- **Specify** arguments within functions to modify how the function produces its output.
-**Index** dataframes to access and retrieve specific information.

:::{.callout-note}
## RStudio is now Posit
RStudio's developer changed its company name to Posit in 2022 to reflect its broader focus on data science beyond R. The RStudio IDE keeps its name and remains supported. Positron is an alternative IDE for working with R and Python.

Learn more: [RStudio is now Posit](https://posit.co/blog/rstudio-is-now-posit)
:::

## Download materials

### Export slides

You can export these slides as MS PowerPoint (.pptx - *in progress*) or pdf by clicking below. Note that basic formatting will be applied to the PowerPoint file.

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  Download slides as PDF
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### Accessibility sheet

Download the accessibility sheet for computers below:
<a href="assets/computer-accessibility-sheet.pdf"
   download="computer-accessibility-sheet.pdf"
   class="btn btn-primary">
  Download slides as PDF
</a>

## Contributors and licence details

**Creator**: Sanchez Steinhagen, Caterina Luz (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"}
[0009-0006-4783-1110](https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4783-1110))

**Creator**: Sharma, Tejaswini (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"} [0000-0000-0000-0000](https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0000-0000-0000)) CHANGE

**Creator**: Waterfield, Elizabeth (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"} [0009-0006-3725-6730](https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3725-6730))

**Creator**: Rieger, David (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"}
[0009-0004-3701-3101](https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3701-3101))

**Consultant**: Middleton, Sara (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"}[0000-0001-5307-8029](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5307-8029))

**Reviewer**: Von Grebmer zu Wolfsthurn, Sarah (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"}
[0000-0002-6413-3895](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6413-3895))

<br>

<p style="text-align:center;">
  <img src="images/cc-by-sa.png" 
  alt="Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 SA"
  style="width:160px;" />
</p>

<div style="background-color: #f0f0f0; padding: 0.05em; border-radius: 2px; font-size: 0.6em;">
This work was originally created by [Nicklas Hafiz](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9035-4483). His work was subsequently adapted by [Caterina Luz Sanchez Steinhagen](https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4783-1110), [Tejaswini Sharma](https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0305 9751), [David Rieger](https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3701-3101), [Elizabeth Waterfield](https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3725-6730), [Sara Lil Middleton](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5307-8029) and [Sarah von Grebmer zu Wolfsthurn](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6413-3895). The current work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 SA International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en) (CC-BY-SA 4.0). Code snippets are dedicated to the public domain and are licensed under a [Creative Commons Universal Licence](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) (CC0 1.0).
</div>