Quantitative Analysis for Environmental Professionals
Overview
Developed by Dr. Robert Bailey, this short course is a hands-on approach to the design, analysis, and communication of quantitative studies in environmental science. Its intended audience is working environmental professionals in industry, government, and non-government organizations carrying out field and lab studies including environmental assessments, diversity inventories, and toxicological research.
The instructor will lead students in learning new skills as they work with their own data to do efficient, effective and appropriate analyses and create publishable quality graphics. The class will share their progress in overcoming the challenges in designing, executing, and interpreting the results of field and lab studies. Data will be assembled and analyzed using a spreadsheet and the statistical and graphics software known as R, which is available as a free download for Windows, Mac, and UNIX operating systems.
Who should attend?
You may use the knowledge and skills developed through this course if you are a:
- Professional working in Envrionmental Science or Sustainability
- Professional working in Statistics
- Researcher
- Data Analyst
- Professional working in a government lab
- Professional working in a nongovernmental organization
What you'll learn
Learners who successfully complete the course will know how to:
- Create a conceptual model for a research project
- Design an observational or experimental research study that incorporates the concept of power (the ability to detect deviations from a null hypothesis)
- Analyze univariate and multivariate data
- Effectively present analyses of univariate or multivariate data from a biological research study
- Critically assess all of the above in a biological research study
- Consider alternatives to the hypothesis testing paradigm for analyzing quantitative data
Learners will also show proficiency with the following software tools:
- Spreadsheet (MSExcel, Google Sheets)
- R statistics software (including customizing scripts)
- Presentation (MSPowerpoint, Google Slides)
Course information
Winter 2025
| Quantitative Analysis for Environmental Professionals | Online: April 7 to 11, 2025 | 12 to 3 p.m. |
|---|
Winter 2025
| Registration fee | Registration status |
|---|---|
| $441.59 CAD + HST |
|
The online course will take place over a period of five (5) consecutive days, starting on Monday and ending on Friday. Each day will run from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET.
Each day will be a series of mini-lectures interspersed with “hands on” time where learners share screens and ideas as they put what they’ve heard about into practice. Specific skills will include:
- Get data from a spreadsheet into R
- Have a first look at your data with ggplot and descriptive stats
- Build and check standard and logistic general linear models (GLMs)
- Build home-made null distributions and use them to test statistical hypotheses
- Complete a power analysis to help design your study or critically review completed studies
- Bayesian fitting and comparison of GLMs
- Build Generalized Additive Models (GAMs)
- Construct Decision Trees and Random Forests
- Multivariate analysis using classification (hierarchical, k-means) and ordination (NMDS, PCA) techniques
- Use MANOVA and PERMANOVA to compare groups with more than one response variable
- Use Canonical Correlation to measure and describe relationships between two matrices of data (e.g. environment, biota)
Each day learners will put copies of their work in a shared folder so the instructor can confirm their completion of the day’s objectives before the next class. On the last day (Friday), each learner will present analyses of the dataset that they have brought to the course.
This is an open enrolment course.
Those completing Ontario Tech University Continuous Learning open enrolment offerings (e.g. certificate programs, courses, workshops, microcertifications, etc.) are subject to the policies of Ontario Tech University and Continuous Learning. Ontario Tech policies can be found in the Policy library. Continuous Learning policies can be found in the Regulations section of the Continuous Learning website. Specifically, those completing open enrolment offerings are expected to adhere to the General and Open enrolment regulations.
Requirements
This is an open-enrollment course.
This course is designed for professionals currently employed in industry, government, and non-governmental organizations who conduct field and laboratory studies, including environmental assessments, diversity inventories, and toxicological research.
To successfully complete the course, you must:
- Register and make full payment for the course;
- Complete each module and final assessment;
- Actively participate in all components of the course and;
- Successfully complete any assigned work by due date.
Technology requirements
Video conferencing
Online learning requirements:
- Computer or device with internet access
- Stable internet or data connection
- R Studio which is available as a free download for Windows, Mac, and UNIX operating systems.
Upon registration please review the online guide to getting R and R Studio installed in Appendix A.
Material requirements
Learners are responsible for all material presented in lectures and videos, in addition the two online books listed below are available courtesy of the generosity of Hadley Wickham.
- R for Data Science (2e) - https://r4ds.hadley.nz/
- ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis (3e) - https://ggplot2-book.org/
