Hybrid Summer School: Introduction to Statistics with R

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NOTE: This course will be delivered in hybrid mode, i.e. the in-person lecture will be transmitted live on zoom. The online part of the class will be supported by its own dedicated teaching staff (along with the lead lecturer), therefore participants can expect the same level of group and individual support as the face-to-face class. You will be able to choose your preferred mode of attendance (face-to-face or online) during registration. 

Outline

Participants will be introduced to the fundamental principles of statistics and to ways of conducting their own analysis, including significance tests and linear regression techniques. The excellent free software Rstudio will be introduced and used for all practical aspects of the course which is a user-friendly interface for R. In more detail, this winter school will cover:

• An overview of quantitative research study designs
• Types of data 
• Graphical displays 
• Summaries of data 
• Confidence intervals 
• Hypothesis testing (parametric and non-parametric tests)
• p-values
• Linear Regression analysis

Neither prior knowledge of R (or similar software) nor of statistical analysis is required. 

The course will take place in hybrid mode, i.e. lectures will take place in a cluster room and will be transmitted live to an online zoom class. Both classes (face-to-face and zoom) will have their own dedicated support by members of the CASC team who, along with the lecturer, will be helping to answer questions and resolve practicals issues. 

All delegates will require access to RStudio and excel/pdf compatible software. The face-to-face classes will take place in a cluster room with availability of the above software. Delegates are also welcome to bring their own laptops if preferred (access to the UCL Guest WiFi network will be provided as well as power supply), but everyone wishing to bring their own computer should ensure Rstudio is installed before attending (installation guidelines will be made available two weeks before the course).

Objectives

By the end of the week, participants will be appropriately equipped to: 

• Set out a plan of analysis for a research question accounting for all types of data involved and aspects of their question
• Choose the best way of graphically displaying their data and results
• Choose the significance tests suitable to answer their question
• Make appropriate use of statistical inference methods
• Understand when regression methods are useful
• Choose the most suitable regression model for their analysis
• Evaluate the goodness of fit of the fitted model
• Perform appropriate model diagnostics and predictions
• Perform all the above analyses in the Rstudio software package.

Location

UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH

The school will take place in a teaching room close to the GOS Institute of Child Health and will also be transmitted online via zoom. Specific details of the course venue/zoom details will be supplied after registration.

The nearest underground station is Russell Square on the Piccadilly line. Holborn, Chancery Lane, Euston and Kings Cross stations are all within easy walking distance.

Timetable

1st-5th of July, 2024

Day	Time	Details
Monday	9.30am - 9.45am	Registration and welcome pack (with tea, coffee and pastries)
	9.45am - 4.30pm	School day 1 *
	4.30pm - 5.00pm	Welcome reception
Tuesday	9.30am - 5.00pm	School day 2 *
Wednesday	9.30am - 5.00pm	School day 3 *
	from 6.00pm	Evening at the Theatre
Thursday	9.30am - 5.00pm	School day 4 *
	from 5.45	Evening Dinner
Friday	9.30am - 5.00pm	School day 5 *

*Each school day includes 4 sessions (1 hour 30 mins each). There will also be two 15 minute breaks (tea, coffee, fruit and biscuits included) and one hour for lunch (12.45pm - 1.45pm, lunch provided).

Note: The school will run from 9.30am on Monday until 5.00pm on Friday, but other aspects of the timetable are provisional and subject to change.

Evening social events

The organised social activities below are free to all summer school participants.

Monday: An evening reception, to welcome you and give you a chance to network with teaching staff and other participants. Drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and snacks will be provided. 

Tuesday: A free evening to explore London.

Wednesday: Any winter school in London would not be complete without a trip to the West End for a theatre show (details will be shared with registered particiapants before the start of the Summer School).

Thursday: Summer School Evening Dinner

Note: all group social activities are included in the course fee and subject to change

Accommodation

Participants are responsible for securing their own accommodation and this should be arranged before arrival and funded independently.

UCL student accommodation is available and accepts short-term bookings from external visitors:

• Frances Gardner house(£)
• Ian Baker house (£)

Alternatively, the following hotels are less than 10 minutes walk to the teaching venue:

• Morgan Hotel (££)
• Mentone Hotel (££)
• Holiday Inn (£££)
• Mercure Hotel (£££)
• Hilton DoubleTree (££££)

Fees

Early Bird (book before 01/05/2024): £1,500
Standard (book after 01/05/2024): £1,800

This fee includes: 

• A welcome pack
• Printed course materials
• Refreshments during breaks
• All lunches (from 12.45pm - 1.45pm)
• All social events as listed in the 'evening social events' tab above, including a West End show

Cancellations

Please note that no refunds will be given for cancellations made within two weeks of the start date or for non-attendance. Cancellations must be received in writing at least two weeks before the start of the event and will be subject to an administration charge of 10% of the course fee. It is regretted that no refunds will be made within two weeks of the course date. 

Feedback

"Great structure and effective learning for the training!”

“First of all, the teaching team was brilliant. Thank you very much. All of them were excellent”

"Excellent course. I learned a lot and would highly recommend this course to my medical colleagues."

“It was very useful to learn how and why a particular statistical test is selected, and that we go to try each of them in RStudio.”

"In general I really enjoyed the course and found it to be a really good introduction to both Statistics and R.I am extremely interested in both these areas for my work. This has made me think about pursuing this further although this may need to be through part time or online study due to the constraints of my job."

"I thought the additional social facilities were really good and added a great deal to the course enabling much more interaction in the classroom between participants as people felt they knew each other better after the social activities"

"I really enjoyed the meal out, and the theatre visit. Good opportunity to network and to enjoy London. Staff and course attendees were all friendly and I enjoyed spending time with them."