Data management with SQL for researchers

Comprised of members of the Research Software Engineering team, the Bioinformatics core, the Library, other staff and students.

The Carpentries at the University of Sheffield

This is a practical, in-person workshop to teach the basics of SQL databases for handling data for research.

Hicks Building, Computer room G29

<h1>Data management with SQL for researchers</h1><p><strong>Please note that this is an </strong><em><strong>in-person</strong></em><strong> workshop on-site at the University of Sheffield campus.</strong></p><p><em><strong>This workshop is for University of Sheffield researchers only. Please ensure that you sign up using a University of Sheffield email address so that your booking is accepted.</strong></em></p><p>Databases are useful for both storing and using data effectively. Using a relational database serves several purposes.</p><ul><li>It <strong>keeps your data separate</strong> from your analysis. This means there’s no risk of accidentally changing data when you analyse it.</li><li>If we get new data we can<strong> rerun a query</strong> to find all the data that meets certain criteria.</li><li>It’s <strong>fast</strong>, even for large amounts of data.</li><li>It improves <strong>quality control</strong> of data entry (type constraints and use of forms in Access, Filemaker, etc.)</li><li>The concepts of relational database querying are core to understanding how to do similar things using <strong>programming languages</strong> such as R or Python.</li></ul><p>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.</p><h2>Who is this lesson for?</h2><p>This lesson is for all researchers at the University of Sheffield working with relatively large amounts of tabular data.</p><h2>What will we learn?</h2><p>You will learn:</p><ul><li>What a <strong>relational database</strong> is and when to use it,</li><li>What <strong>SQL </strong>is,</li><li>How to <strong>query</strong>, aggregate, filter and combine data with SQL.</li></ul><h2>How will it be taught?</h2><p>This will be a hands-on, <strong>in-person</strong> workshop.</p><h2>Prerequisite knowledge</h2><p>There is no prerequisite knowledge for this lesson short of knowing how to use your computer.</p><h2>Technical Requirements</h2><p>You will need a working installation of <a href="https://sqlitebrowser.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">DB Browser for SQLite</a> which is available for all major operating systems. For more information, please read <a href="https://datacarpentry.org/sql-ecology-lesson/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">these setup  instructions</a>.</p><p><strong>Video tutorials</strong></p><p>To follow detailed instructions to prepare for this course, please watch the following tutorials:</p><ul><li><a href="https://digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/DB+Browser+for+SQLite+installation+tutorial/1_zgpebf9g" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">DB Browser for SQLite installation tutorial </a></li><li><a href="https://digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/How+to+download+the+data+files+for+the+Data+Management+with+SQL+workshop/1_eoowq3zt" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">How to download the data files for the Data Management with SQL workshop </a></li></ul><h2>Location</h2><p><a href="https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/pooledroomdirectory/teaching-spaces/hicks?authuser=0" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Hicks Building</a>, <a href="https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/pooledroomdirectory/teaching-spaces/hicks/g29-computer-room" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Computer room G29</a>University of Sheffield</p><h2>Statement on free at point of use training</h2><p>We are delighted to be able to make free at point of use training available to the research community, to enable better software and more open, reproducible research. However, free at point of use training is not free. The cost of a course can easily run to thousands of pounds, if preparation costs are taken into account.</p><p>If you sign up for a course, please make sure you either attend or cancel your booking. Bookings can usually be cancelled using eventbrite.com or, failing that, by emailing rse@sheffield.ac.uk.</p><p>Running courses that are not fully attended wastes our funding (which is provided by taxpayers, charities and students, amongst others) and reduces our collective capacity to improve research outputs and researcher experiences.</p><p>Persistent failure to attend booked courses might result in you being excluded from future training opportunities.</p><p><em>Photo by </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/@nci?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><em>National Cancer Institute</em></a><em> on </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/OHx5zVsv_gY?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"><em>Unsplash</em></a></p><p>  </p>

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Data management with SQL for researchers

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