1: Introduction & Setup

Content for Monday, March 30, 2026

Before class

📖 Readings:

• R4DS Introduction
• R4DS Ch 2: Workflow: basics
• R4DS Ch 6: Workflow: scripts and projects

✅ Setup tasks:

• Follow the Installing R & RStudio guide to install R, RStudio, and the required packages

During class

We’ll cover:

• Why data science for psychology?
• R vs RStudio: What’s the difference?
• The RStudio interface
• Creating projects and scripts
• Installing packages
• Class structure and expectation
  • Cognitive helmets

Slides

View slides in new tab Download PDF

Embedded slides

After class

✅ Complete these tasks:

1. Make sure R and RStudio are installed and working
2. Create a new RStudio Project called “psy410”
3. Install the tidyverse package: install.packages("tidyverse")
4. Run library(tidyverse) and make sure it loads without errors
5. Try glimpse(mpg) to see your first dataset!

TipGetting help

If you run into installation issues, check out R4DS Chapter 8: Workflow: getting help or post in our class discussion forum.