Lab report module 4

The purpose of this assignment is for you to demonstrate basic familiarity with importing, inspecting, cleaning, manipulating, visualising, and interpreting archaeological data.

We are investigating geochemical data from the stones in Stonehenge. What does this data tell us about how Stonehenge was built and where the stones come from? Take a look at Bevins et al. (2014) Links to an external site. and Pearson et al (2021) Links to an external site. for information that will help you answer these questions like an archaeologist.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Create a new RStudio project (New Project -> New Directory -> New Project), and
   • call it archy-208-module-4-bmarwick (replace my UW ID with yours).
   • You should get a new, empty folder, ready to work in
   • Download the CSV file with the data here Download Download the CSV file with the data here and download the image file here.  The data are from a journal article by Bevins et al. (2014) Links to an external site. 
   • use your desktop folders to move this data file into your RStudio project directory that you just created.
   • File names are vital here: do not rename the CSV file or the image file. We can't grade your assignment if the file names are not exactly as specified here (check for numbers magically appearing at the end of the filename, that means you've downloaded it multiple times, you should delete the other copies). 
2. In your new project, create a new Quarto file (File -> New file -> Quarto Document -> click "Create"), and:
   • save it as archy-208-module-4-bmarwick.qmd (replace my UW ID with yours),
   • delete all the template content
   • Ensure the YAML front matter has:
     • an effective title (how?), e.g. in the form of a question or statement
     • your name, hint: author: "Ben Marwick"
     • the date automatically inserted, hint: date: now
     • the output format set as html, hint: format: html: self-contained: true
     • warnings and messages suppressed in the output, hint: execute: warning: false
3. In your new qmd file, use these headings, and write a total 10-15 fully-formed sentences that answers these questions:

• • Introduction: What is the aim of your report? (1-2 sentences containing specific details and concrete nouns). Hint: look at Thursday's lecture slides Download Thursday's lecture slides for the specific aims.
  • Data: What type of data are you analysing and where does it come from? (2-3 sentences containing specific details and concrete nouns)
    • use at least two examples of inline R code to get two meaningful summary values 
    • ensure you have a code block that cleans your data,
    • your code must uses pipes,
    • your code must use mutate function
    • your code must use the filter function
    • your code must use the select function
    • your text must cite the publication that originally presented the data in APA style (how?), and include it in your reference section.
  • Exploratory data visualisation: What do you observe when you visualise the data? (4-5 sentences)
    • you need to write R code that produces at least three visualisations
    • Each visualisation needs at least one complete sentence describing your observations.
  • Conclusion: What is your conclusion about how Stonehenge was built and where the stones come from? We strongly recommend you use the terminology we introduced in the lecture, and that is used by Bevins et al. (2014) Links to an external site. and Pearson et al (2021) Links to an external site. (3-4 sentences with include specific details and concrete nouns).
  • References: include the full reference in APA style (without hanging indent) for all items that you cite in your text

5. Render your qmd file to output a HTML document.

• • Check that in your qmd file your CSV file name and image file names is exactly the same as ours.

6. Upload to Canvas your two files (please do not zip them, note that we are no longer asking for your data file):

• • your qmd file, correctly named, with correct YAML, with code and text, and
  • your HTML file, containing the output of your code and text, with no warnings or messages from the code visible.

If you get stuck please let us know at any time by posting a message to our Discord workspace.  

Additional resources: 

• https://quarto.org/docs/computations/execution-options.html Links to an external site. 
• https://quarto.org/docs/computations/r.html Links to an external site. 
• Data Wrangling: Basic and more advanced ways to filter rows
• Select: Subset columns using their names and types
• R for Data Science: Data visualisation