Pre-course setups and requirements

Published

April 16, 2026 – 03:46:26 (UTC)

Keywords

Medical Statistics, OUCRU, Biostatistics, R Programming, Clinical Research

About

Here we explain how to install R and RStudio on your own computer. This is required to ensure a smooth experience and reproducible results during the course.

Installation

R

  1. Go to the R website
  2. In the column on the left hand side, click on the CRAN link under the subheading Download
    • You now see a page with CRAN Mirrors. This is a list of servers from which the R software and extensions can be downloaded from
  3. Click on the first link
    • Now both the left hand side and the right hand side of the page change (This page can be saved as a bookmark/favorite)
  4. On the right hand side, click on the download link for your operating system
    • E.g. Windows users click on Download R for Windows, then click on base and download the program from there.
    • It is recommended to install the latest version as well as to upgrade the program if a new major version is released, which is about once per year
    • You can use the default installation options

RStudio Desktop

  1. Go to the download page
  2. Scroll down, look for 2: Install Rstudio and click on the button for downloading RStudio Desktop
  3. Download and install RStudio Desktop
    • You can use the default installation options
  4. Open Rstudio Desktop, to check that everything has been installed correctly
    • E.g. via the Start menu in Windows

R Packages

Once R and RStudio are installed, you need to install the specific libraries we will use for data visualization and analysis.

Instructions:

  1. Open RStudio.
  2. Copy the code below and paste it into the Console (the bottom-left pane).
  3. Press Enter.
# List of required packages
pkgs <- c("ggplot2", "gtsummary", "ggrain", "GGally", "patchwork", 
          "ggExtra", "ggResidpanel", "performance", "see", "ggeffects")

# Install packages
install.packages(pkgs)