How can I learn R for statistics software without prior knowledge?

[TheRobster]

Hi all,

I've been asked to learn how to use the R for statistics software at work. I know "basic" stats theory such as linear/multiple regression, t-tests, ANOVA etc, and have used other software packages such as Excel, SPSS, but never R. Can anyone recommend any good books/websites to get me started?

There appears to be quite a lot of resources of the official R website but having looked there it seems they assume a reasonable level of knowledge to start with. What I really need is an "R for dummies" type of resource. Can anyone suggest anything?

Cheers
-Rob

 

[viraltux]

Have you checked the introduction in the official site?

http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.html

I think it pretty straight forward.

 

[inverse]

if you have a good level of theoretical statistic, you can already begin with the introduction of viraltux

 

[camillio]

In addition to R-intro referenced above:
http://cran.r-project.org/doc/contrib/Verzani-SimpleR.pdf

There exists a book 'R in a nutshell', but I would stick with free pdfs, at least if you don't plan mastering R.

 

[tbrown122387]

i would just learn a bit about the different data structures, and how to input data. whenever you want to do something specific, just google it or ask on a forum. R is pretty high level so most things are just one-liners. just learn it as you go.

 

[awkward]

In addition to books (online or otherwise), consider loading R Commander (Rcmdr). It's an R package which gives you a graphical interface to R, intended to give students an assist in learning R. When you select an action from R Commander's menu, it executes the action and also displays the R code for that purpose.