JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Graduate students in medical fields must learn epidemiology and data analysis to conduct their research. Learning R, a programming language-based program, can be challenging due to its compatibility with their computer, package installation problems, and other learning issues. Jupyter notebooks were used to run R to enhance the learning of epidemiological data analysis for graduate students by providing an interactive and collaborative environment that allows for more efficient and effective learning.

Objective:

This study collected class reflections from students and their lecturer in the class “longitudinal data analysis using R,” identified problems that occurred, and illustrated how the Jupyter notebook can solve those problems.

Methods:

The researcher analyzed issues encountered in the previous class and devised solutions using the Jupyter notebook. These were implemented and applied to a new group of students. Reflection comments from the students were regularly collected and documented in an electronic written form. Consequently, the comments were thematically analyzed and compared to those of the prior cohort.

Results:

The improvement identified includes the ease of using Jupyter R for data analysis without needing to install packages, increased student questioning due to curiosity, and students being able to try all functions of the codes without delay. After using the Jupyter R notebook, the effectiveness of the lecturer in stimulating interest, challenging students, and students responding to questions was highlighted. The feedback shows that learning R with Jupyter notebook was effective in stimulating interest. Based on the feedback received, it can be inferred that utilizing Jupyter notebook to learn R is an effective approach in equipping students with an all-encompassing comprehension of longitudinal data analysis.

Conclusions:

The use of Jupyter R notebook can improve the learning experience of graduate students in epidemiological data analysis by providing an interactive and collaborative environment that is not affected by compatibility issues with different operating systems and computers.