Databases are useful for both storing and using data effectively. Using a relational database serves several purposes.

• It keeps your data separate from your analysis. This means there’s no risk of accidentally changing data when you analyze it.
• If we get new data we can rerun a query to find all the data that meets certain criteria.
• It’s fast, even for large amounts of data.
• It improves quality control of data entry (type constraints and use of forms in Access, Filemaker, etc.)
• The concepts of relational database querying are core to understanding how to do similar things using programming languages such as R or Python.

This lesson will teach you what relational databases are, how you can load data into them and how you can query databases to extract just the information that you need.

General Information

Data Carpentry’s aim is to teach researchers basic concepts, skills, and tools for working with data so that they can get more done in less time, and with less pain.

Who: The course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

Where: Online via Zoom

When: Thursday, September 24, 2020. 9:00am - 12:00pm

Requirements: This lesson requires DB Browser for SQLite for SQL. To most effectively use these materials, please make sure to install everything before working through this lesson.

Materials will be provided in advance of the workshop. If we can help making learning easier for you (e.g. sign-language interpreters, additional accommodations) please get in touch (using contact details below) and we will attempt to provide them.

Workshop organization note: A full Carpentry workshop typically consists of two days of in-person instruction, covering 4 half-day lessons. Due to moving online to maintain safety and compliance with COVID-19 guidelines, we have separated this curriculum into a series of workshops. For the full workshop curriculum, suggested schedules are below:

Data Carpentry lessons use domain-specific data files and examples (though the techniques are widely applicable), so mixing and matching is not recommended:

Other Carpentries workshop sessions: