ALHP_765

Author

Laura Lambert

Published

July 1, 2024

Welcome

This is the course book for ALHP 765: Data Management for Health Science Research, though the concepts contained are transferrable to a number of different contexts where working with large data sets is necessary. It is divided into three sections: Excel, SPSS, and R. In each, data-handling techniques using that software will be discussed as well as visualization. While the content might be the same (eg. how to add a variable), each software handles things a bit differently. By the end of the course, you will feel more confident working with data in all three software programs, will have likely formed an opinion about which you do and do not prefer, and will know how to find more resources if you need them for your particular data situation.

Objectives

This book aims to cover the following student objectives

Apply data visualization principles
Construct data visualizations in Excel, SPSS, and R
Name, organize, and save files in a systematic fashion
Create a spreadsheet in Excel that performs calculations
Construct graphs in Excel
Transfer data across Excel, SPSS, and R
Screen data in SPSS and R
Identify and label missing data in SPSS and R
Compute variable and recode data in SPSS and R
Conduct data transformation on a subset of data in SPSS and R
Merge data files in SPSS and R
Conduct and interpret basic descriptive statistics in SPSS and R
Test assumptions of normality, skewness, etc. in SPSS and R
Identify and correct errors in both SPSS and R

Software Requirements:

Excel - Part of Microsoft Office
SPSS v.28 or 29 (Not free - License is required)
R v.4.4.0 - Available at <r-project.org>
R Studio - Available at https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/
Notepad++ - Available at https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

Book Organization

This book is organized into three main units, one per software. Within each unit is a textual description of concepts, as well as accompanying links (hosted on YouTube) of the author walking through the material. Additionally, there are practice problems embedded within each chapter to allow you to practice the material on your own.

This website is and will always be free to access, licensed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED License.