R for Korean Studies Bootcamp

There are plenty of free online resources and courses that can help you learn R at your own pace. Indeed, there is one on “R for Korean Studies,” written by our CEO and this bootcamp’s instructor Dr. Kadir Jun Ayhan. However, many people find it challenging to teach themselves R without the support of a community or additional motivation.

That is why we have designed a two-days cohort-based data science bootcamp to help you learn R with the support of a community that will provide the motivation you need. In addition, we will have 4 hours of Q&A and feedback sessions over the course of one month to help you with any questions you may have.

“Why Do I Need Computational Tools in Korean Studies?”

Simply put, there is so much more data out there that is useful for Korean Studies research, and we have faster computers, and handy tools to analyze such data.

Korean Studies curricula across the world are quite rich and interdisciplinary. Those courses often equip students with the history, culture, literature, and language of Korea to understand the country better. Yet, Korean Studies scholars and students are not exposed to computational methods/ tools that can handle big or complex data as much.

If you are already here, it probably means that you appreciate the increasing importance of the computational tools in your research. This bootcamp based on R for Korean Studies book, will teach you the basics of R, and give you sample codes based on Korean Studies-related examples.

In the age that we live in, we strongly believe that these computational methods/ tools will empower you in your research as well as in the job market given wide range of prospective jobs Korean Studies graduates seek and find (corporations, international organizations, think tanks, NGOs, media, academia etc.).

“Why R?”

R is free! There are so many packages that are rich with a wide range of functions that you would need in all kinds of research, analysis, and reporting. Many more are being built as you read this book! You can do from simple math to data pre-processing, from data visualization to regressions, from building your CV to building your website, from analyzing tweets to machine learning.

Python is probably getting more popular in the industry jobs in recent years. Yet, I think, for the time being, R is better suited for social science research. At least there are more books, tutorials, examples that you can learn from in terms of social sciences.

Once exposed to R, you may also consider learning Python as well if it seems more attractive for you.

“I don’t know anything about coding! Indeed, I am frustrated about coding!”

Then this bootcamp is very much for you! We don’t expect the bootcamp participants to have any prior knowledge of R, coding, or other statistical software.

This bootcamp is supposed to be a gentle introduction, so we do not go into the details of the R language. Learning curve is steep in the beginning. So you may need a trigger to begin and NOT GIVE UP. This bootcamp plays this trigger role. So, there is no need to be intimidated by R, or your lack of background with coding. We got you covered!

The Book

We will use the “R for Korean Studies” book as a textbook for this bootcamp. The book is written by Dr. Kadir Jun Ayhan, the instructor of this bootcamp.

Detailed Program

In this bootcamp, we delve into data science, specifically tailored for Korean Studies enthusiasts.

In this bootcamp, you will learn how to use the basics of R, with use cases for international relations, including data wrangling, data visualization, and text analysis.

The bootcamp consists of a total of 12 hours of classes and 4 hours Q&A and feedback sessions.

Participants will have access to a private Microsoft Teams community for discussions, questions, and resource sharing.

Participants will receive participation certificates from K-Analytics.

We designed this bootcamp for beginners, and no prior experience with R is required.

Reserve your spot using the payment form at the bottom of this page.

Detailed program is as follows (all times are in Eastern Time):

(If you are in East Asia or Australia, contact us for the alternative bootcamp scheduled in the Korean time zone.)

DAY DATE TIME TOPIC DETAILS MATERIALS
1 Sat, Oct 19 10 AM - 1 PM (ET)

Basics of R, Data wrangling

Working with packages, scripting, assigning values, data types, basic functions, piping; dplyr verbs: select, filter, mutate, group_by, case_when

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.


Sat, Oct 19 2 PM - 5 PM (ET)

Data visualization

ggplot2 basics

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.

2 Sun, Oct 20 10 AM - 1 PM (ET)

Data wrangling continued

Merging different datasets (dplyr, countrycode), working with dates (lubridate), converting data to long/ wide formats (tidyr),

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.


Sun, Oct 20 2 PM - 5 PM (ET)

Text analysis

Getting spaces and morphemes in Korean text right (bitNLP, RcppMeCab); frequency analysis, and word networks (tidytext, stringr)

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.

3 Wed, Oct 23 7 PM - 8 PM (ET)

Q/A Session and Customized Feedback

Answering cohort's questions, and giving customized feedback.

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.

4 Wed, Oct 30 7 PM - 8 PM (ET)

Q/A Session and Customized Feedback

Answering cohort's questions, and giving customized feedback.

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.

5 Wed, Nov 6 7 PM - 8 PM (ET)

Q/A Session and Customized Feedback

Answering cohort's questions, and giving customized feedback.

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.

6 Wed, Nov 13 7 PM - 8 PM (ET)

Q/A Session and Customized Feedback

Answering cohort's questions, and giving customized feedback.

🖥️ We will share code scripts, and recordings with registered participants.

Eary Bird Discount

Use the following discount coupon to get a discount on the bootcamp:

Early bird: earlybird ($50 off until October 11)

Group discount: reach out to us for a group discount or customized R training for your team.

Registration