Data Organization with Spreadsheets

Good data organization is the foundation of any research project. We organize data in spreadsheets in the ways that we as humans want to work with the data, but computers require that data be organized in particular ways. In order to use tools that make computation more efficient, such as programming languages like R or Python, we need to structure our data the way that computers need the data. In this lesson, you will learn: + Good data entry practices - formatting data tables in spreadsheets + How to avoid common formatting mistakes + Approaches for handling dates in spreadsheets + Basic quality control and data manipulation in spreadsheets + Exporting data from spreadsheets. Attendees will need to bring their own laptop in order to fully participate.