Overview

This unit introduces students to programming for statistics and data science using the R programming language. Experience with these languages forms an important component of the work undertaken by data scientists or anyone working with qualitative or quantitative data.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
02-March-2026
31-May-2026
Last self-enrolment date
15-March-2026
Census date
31-March-2026
Last withdraw without fail date
21-April-2026
Results released date
07-July-2026

Unit learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
 

  1. Perform statistical analyses using R
  2. Demonstrate knowledge of data structures
  3. Apply appropriate principles of computer programming to perform statistical analyses
  4. Write pseudo-code to plan a programming task
  5. Produce functions to perform statistical and data science tasks in R

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Live Online
Class		1.00 12 weeks 12
On-campus
Class		2.00 12 weeks 24
Specified Activities
Various		2.00 12 weeks 24
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		7.50 12 weeks 90
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
AssignmentIndividual 50% 1,2,3,4 
Online QuizIndividual 10% 1,2,3,4,5 
TestIndividual 40% 3,4,5 

Content

  • Introduction to R.
  • Statistical analysis using R.
  • Data structures in the R context.
  • Principles of programming – pseudo-code, comment, structures.
  • Programming basics – functions, algorithms, loops.

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.