Introduction

Abstract

R is more like a computer programming language than a typical statistical computer package. Some of R’s features such as data frames are already familiar to behavioral scientists who are used to other statistical packages. Some other features like vectors, matrices, lists, and functions may first appear technical and strange. These features can help a behavioral scientist improve the efficiency and clarity of data analysis. But they also require a different thinking in data analysis. This chapter is an introduction to some of these advantages of using R, including the basic concepts in vectors, matrices, lists, and functions, how to quickly carry out simple statistical calculations, and how to define data types in a data frame. Some examples in this chapter will be revisited later in this book with more details.