COMPUTER LAB ACTIVITY

INTRODUCTION, PIVOT TABLES, AND R STUDIO

Semester Week 2

DATA FILES: Marron data

KEY EXCEL FUNCTIONS: Pivot Tables

SCREEN RECORDINGS: Any relevant screen recordings should be embedded on the relevant
LMS page. This week there are two relevant recording. One that introduces pivot tables and one
that introduces R Studio.

Computer Lab Objectives

The objective of this computer lab is to introduce you to some of the functions available in Excel
and provide some exposure to R-Studio. You may think that you are already familiar with the
Excel functions, but Excel is pretty great and there may be some tricks that you haven’t seen yet. If
you know Excel well, then you’ll be able to work through the exercises quickly. If you are not very
familiar with Excel ask for help. You also need to work through an introduction to R studio
exercise. Please ask for help if you get stuck.
For this first lab, considerable time will be consumed with explaining the general structure of the
way these computer lab sessions will work, and how to submit your work. We also want to allow
time for people to become familiar with how data is found on the LMS and what you will need to
do each week. As such, the computer lab is not that long, but may still take substantial time while
you work out what is going on.
In general, you will be expected to use the screen recording material and R topic guides as reference
material. Do not be surprised if, when you have a question, the first response from your tutor is:
“have you looked at the recording/ reference guide”. Demonstrators will help you, but you also have to
make some effort. For this first computer lab, if you have problems, do make sure you get help if
you get stuck. It is important to get the basics down in this first class.

Data file management

For data files available on the LMS, it is advisable to save the File to a suitable location; perhaps use
a folder with a name like “SCIE1104 Lab 2 data”. If you do not already have a specific folder for
your computer lab files it might be worth creating a new folder on your own drive so that you can
keep track of your work.
REMEMBER TO SAVE ALL YOUR WORK IN YOUR STUDENT FOLDER. ONE OF THE
TUTORS HAS TO CHECK YOUR WORK BEFORE YOU LEAVE. YOU WILL ALSO NEED
TO REFER BACK TO THE EXAMPLES FOR THE ASSIGNMENTS. SET UP A DEDICATED
FOLDER NOW

UWA School of Agriculture and Environment

SCIE1104 Science, Society and Data Analysis
Agricultural and Resource Economics
1. The Marron data file contains measurements on different strains of ‘smooth’ Marron.
The development of a sustainable Marron aquaculture industry is a key part of the
overall Department of Fisheries management strategy for ensuring a sustainable wild
marron population. The interaction between ‘smooth’ marron and the ‘hairy’ marron
found only in Margaret River is also a critical issue for environmental management in
Western Australia. So, understanding the characteristics of marron strains that are
relevant for aquaculture and recreational fishing is also relevant to biodiversity issues in
the South West of Western Australia.
Before you start to answer the questions, if you are not familiar with MS Excel pivot
tables watch the relevant recording. The recording should make everything clear. The
recording is set to match the version of MS Excel running in the computer labs which is
the 2013 version of MS Excel.

i. Download the data from the LMS, and save it as an Excel file in your dedicated
SCIE1104 lab folder.

ii. Use the pivot table function in MS Excel to find the average tail flesh value for
Males and Females for each strain of marron.

iii. Use the pivot table function to find the standard deviation of tail flesh value for
Males and Females for each strain of marron. (This is not shown exactly in the
recording, but how to change the function you apply to the groups is shown)

iv. Create a summary table in a Word document to display your results. The table
must follow the SCIE1104 official style guide format (see style guide and extract
below in Box 1). One possible format that is consistent with the Style guide is
shown below. In this instance, all values in the table should be reported to one
decimal place.

Note: The point of the style guide for tables and figures is to ensure there is a consistent
format and assessment standard for work marked by tutors. More generally, it is important
to understand that for written reports there is always a style guide, and you need to follow
the style guide. For SCIE1104 the style guide helps remove variation and ambiguity in
marking. If you follow the style guide you are deemed to meet presentation standards for
the work submitted. If you do not follow the style guide—even if the table still looks
‘nice’—your table is deemed to not meet presentation standards and you will lose marks.
With the style guide the requirements you need to meet are clear, and I can also provide
clear marking instructions to tutors. Please use this first computer lab session to familiarise
yourself with the requirements for tables, and ask for help if you are stuck/lost in terms of
the formatting.

UWA School of Agriculture and Environment

SCIE1104 Science, Society and Data Analysis
Agricultural and Resource Economics
Box 1 Table formatting instructions (Extract)
INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS TABLES:
Table font size: All table information is to be in 10pt font
Line spacing: Within a table line spacing is to single line spacing
Decimals: Within a table column a common decimal place format is to be used
Top line: A double solid line is to be used for the top line of a table
Bottom line: A single solid line is to be used for the bottom line of a table
Heading separator: A single line is to be used to separate column headings from numbers
Caption location: the Table caption must be placed above the table
Caption label font: The caption label is to be in 12pt font
Caption label line spacing: The caption label line spacing is to be single line spacing
Sub groups: identification of subgroups with a line is optional
Pooled group: identification of a pooled group with a dashed line is optional.

Table 1 Marron summary data on tail flesh (g)

Males Females
Strain
Mean SD Mean SD
Strain 1 1.2 2.1 12.1 4.0
Strain 2 : : : :
Strain 3 : : : :
Strain 4 : : : :
Strain 5 : : : :
Strain 6 : : : :

2. Watch the getting started with R recording for some tips on getting started. If you have
trouble opening R Studio, or downloading the relevant file from the LMS, please ask you
tutor for help. Note there is a recording to watch that explains how to get started with R
studio. Watch this; but also ask for help if you are feeling lost.

3. Open a script file in R Studio, and run the ‘barplot’ example script. In R Studio there is a
technical difference between working in the console and working with a script file. A lot
of students will be typing their commands in the console. Don’t do this! You won’t be
able to save your programming, and when you close R you will lose all your work.

4. For the face-to-face class practical class, once you have finished these exercises you are
free to leave. Before you leave, however, please show the demonstrator your completed
work. We want to check that you can read a file into R Studio, if we can.

UWA School of Agriculture and Environment

SCIE1104 Science, Society and Data Analysis
Agricultural and Resource Economics