Library Building (LIB)

This workshop will introduce Generalized Additive Models (GAMs), which allow one to fit models that are complex and nonlinear but easily interpretable, unlike many “black-box” machine learning models.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to fit GAMs in R using the mgcv package and understand the advantages of GAMs over GLMs and LMs.

This session will introduce participants to non-parametric tests, which are useful when data distributions do not meet the assumptions of parametric tests. Attendees will learn to compare the adaptability of these tests with different data distributions and to visualize their operation.

By the end of the session, participants should be able to choose and apply the appropriate non-parametric tests for their data, visualize the operation of these tests, and understand the challenges of multiple testing with non-parametric methods.

This workshop will show how to interpret GAMs and how to use GAMs to make publication-level figures.

By the end of this session, participants should be able to interpret GAMs and the output of the summary() function, predict from GAMs, and make figures using GAMs.

This session will introduce participants to the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), a statistical method used for comparing the means of three or more groups. The concept of blocking will also be introduced to reduce noise and isolate sources of variation.

By the end of the session, participants should be able to use ANOVA for multi-treatment analysis, implement blocking in experimental design, calculate the F statistic for assessing significance, and appreciate how blocking can improve the efficiency of a study.

This workshop will re-visit random and fixed effects with Hierachical GAMs (HGAMs) and expand the concepts of random slopes by introducing random smooths. The workshop will also cover smooth, nonlinear interaction terms via the ti() and te() functions.

By the end of this session, participants should be able to fit HGAMs with smooth interaction terms, plot and interpret the models.

This session will address the concepts of correlation, causation, and association in data. Participants will learn to differentiate between these concepts and to recognize and interpret various types of correlations.

By the end of the session, participants should be able to distinguish between correlation and causation, recognize the impact of confounding variables on associations, evaluate correlation reliability, and understand the significance of correlation results.