This workshop will introduce attendees to the advanced data visualization capabilities in R and to the concepts of the grammar of graphics. Specifically, we will demonstrate how to access ggplot2 using a graphical user interface library in R as well as through an R shiny app. These environments provide the user a “point and click” interface for accessing the power of ggplot2 and can generate R syntax automatically thereby providing users a boost up the learning curve for understanding the grammar of graphics used by ggplot2.

We begin the workshop with an overview of the grammar of graphics and explain how graphs are constructed in layers and aesthetics which will lay a foundation for how to approach creating advanced graphics and visualizations. We will then demonstrate how to create and export various kinds of visualizations including violin pots, line plots, boxplots, scatterplots, bubble plots, bar charts, histograms and more using these interfaces. The examples used throughout will leverage mixed data types (e.g. a combination of continuous and categorical variables) that are common in both survey research and social sciences.

While no prior R programming experience is assumed, a working understanding of the R environment (how to load packages, etc.) or Rstudio will be very helpful. Having the most recent version of R and /or Rstudio and an internet connection during the workshop would help users follow along in real time if desired.