Data Insight Foundations

This book is not a comprehensive guide; if that's what you're seeking, you may want to look elsewhere. Instead, it serves as a map, outlining the necessary tools and topics for your research journey. The goal is to build your intuition and provide pointers for where to find more detailed information. The chapters are deliberately concise and to the point, aiming to expose and enlighten rather than bore you.

While examples are primarily in R, a basic understanding of the language is advantageous but not essential. Several chapters, especially those focusing on theory, require no programming knowledge at all. Parts of this book have proven useful to a diverse audience, including web developers, mathematicians, data analysts, and economists, making the material beneficial regardless of one’s background

The structure allows for flexible reading paths; you may explore the chapters in sequence for a systematic learning experience or navigate directly to the topics most relevant to you.

What You Will Learn

• Data Management: Master the end-to-end process of data collection, processing, validation, and imputation using R.
• Reproducible Research: Understand fundamental theories and achieve transparency with literate programming, renv, and Git.
• Academic Writing: Conduct scientific literature reviews and write structured papers and reports with Quarto.
• Survey Design: Design well-structured surveys and manage data collection effectively.
• Data Visualization: Understand data visualization theory and create well-designed and captivating graphics using ggplot2

Who this Book is For

Career professionals such as research and data analysts transitioning from academia to a professional setting where production quality significantly impacts career progression. Some familiarity with data analytics processes and an interest in learning R or Python are ideal.