UNIT – V

Introduction to Data Analytics with R

Why R for Data Analytics?

R is a powerful open-source programming language that is widely used

in data analytics, statistical computing, and machine learning. It
provides a comprehensive environment for handling, visualizing, and
analyzing large datasets efficiently. Below are some of the key reasons
why R is a popular choice for data analytics:

1. Open-source & Free

o R is freely available, making it accessible to researchers, data

scientists, and businesses.

o Large and active community support provides numerous

free libraries and resources.

2. Statistical Computing Capabilities

o R is designed for advanced statistical analysis and data

modeling.

o Provides inbuilt functions for regression, hypothesis testing,

time series analysis, and more.

3. Rich Ecosystem of Machine Learning Libraries

o R supports a variety of machine learning techniques through

powerful libraries such as:

 caret – Unified framework for ML models

  randomForest – Random Forest for classification and
regression

 xgboost – Gradient boosting algorithm for predictive

modeling

4. Visualization Capabilities

o R excels in data visualization and storytelling, making it easy

to explore and communicate insights.

o Popular visualization libraries include:

 ggplot2 – Advanced data visualization

 lattice – Multi-panel statistical graphics

 plotly – Interactive graphs and dashboards

5. Integration with Big Data Technologies

o R can handle large datasets and integrate with Big Data

frameworks such as:

 Hadoop – Parallel computing with R using the

RHadoop package

 Spark – Distributed ML and big data processing via

SparkR

 BigR – Enables R to work with Big Data stored in HDFS

Key Steps in Data Analytics with R

To perform data analytics in R, a structured workflow is typically

followed. Below are the key steps:

Step 1: Data Collection

The first step in data analytics is importing data from different sources
into R. Common data sources include:

 CSV files → read.csv("data.csv")

 Excel files → readxl::read_excel("data.xlsx")

 Databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB) → DBI and RMySQL

 Web scraping (APIs, JSON, XML) → httr, rvest

Step 2: Data Preprocessing

Before analysis, raw data needs to be cleaned and transformed:

 Handling Missing Values

o Remove missing data → na.omit(dataset)

o Impute missing values → mean(dataset$column, na.rm =

TRUE)

 Data Transformation

o Convert categorical variables → as.factor(dataset$column)

o Normalize numerical data → scale(dataset$column)

Step 3: Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

EDA helps in understanding the distribution, patterns, and

relationships in data.

 Descriptive Statistics

o Summary of data → summary(dataset)

o Mean, median, standard deviation → mean(), sd(), quantile()

 Data Visualization

o Univariate Analysis → Histograms, box plots (ggplot2)

o Bivariate Analysis → Scatter plots, correlation heatmaps

Step 4: Model Building (Supervised & Unsupervised Learning)

Depending on the problem type, different machine learning techniques

are applied:

 Supervised Learning (Labeled Data)

o Regression: Linear Regression, Random Forest Regression

o Classification: Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, SVM

 Unsupervised Learning (Unlabeled Data)

o Clustering: k-Means, Hierarchical Clustering, DBSCAN

o Dimensionality Reduction: PCA

Step 5: Model Evaluation

After training, models are evaluated using various performance

metrics:

 Regression Metrics

o RMSE (Root Mean Squared Error) → Measures error in

prediction

o R² (R-Squared) → Measures model accuracy

 Classification Metrics

o Accuracy → (Correct Predictions / Total Predictions)

o Precision & Recall → Performance of classification models

o ROC Curve & AUC Score → pROC package for model

evaluation

Step 6: Deployment & Interpretation of Results

Once the model is validated, it is deployed for real-world use.

 Deploying as an API using Plumber

 Deploying on web applications with Shiny

 Interpreting results and generating reports using R Markdown

 Introduction to Collaborative Filtering
Collaborative Filtering recommends items by analyzing past interactions
between users and items.

How does it work?

 User-based filtering: "People similar to you liked these items."

 Item-based filtering: "If you liked this item, you may like similar
items."

 Hybrid Filtering: Combines both user-based and item-based

filtering.

Example Use Cases

 E-commerce: Suggesting products based on past purchases.

 Streaming Platforms: Recommending movies based on viewing

history.

 Online Learning: Suggesting courses based on user activity

2. Types of Collaborative Filtering

2.1. User-Based Collaborative Filtering

Finds similar users and recommends items liked by similar users.

 Example: If User A and User B have similar movie preferences,

then User A will get recommendations based on User B's likes.
Mathematical Approach:

 Measures similarity using Cosine Similarity or Pearson

Correlation.
 similarity=∣A∣×∣B∣A⋅B=∑i=1nAi2×∑i=1nBi2∑i=1nAi×Bi

2.2. Item-Based Collaborative Filtering

Finds similar items and recommends them to users who liked similar
items.

Example: If many users who purchased "iPhone 13" also bought

"AirPods Pro", then a user who buys "iPhone 13" will get a
recommendation for "AirPods Pro" since these items are frequently
bought together.

2.3. Hybrid Filtering

Combines User-based and Item-based filtering for better

recommendations.

 Used by Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon.

 New users with no history.

Social media analytics
Social media analytics refers to the process of collecting, analyzing, and
interpreting data from social media platforms to assess performance,
understand audience behavior, and optimize strategies. It helps
businesses, marketers, and content creators make informed decisions
on how to improve engagement, reach, and overall effectiveness on
social platforms.

Key Metrics to Track:

 Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, retweets, reactions, etc.

 Reach: The number of unique users who have seen your posts.

 Impressions: The number of times your posts have been viewed,

regardless of whether they were clicked or interacted with.

 Follower Growth: The increase or decrease in followers over time.

 Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on a

link in your post.

 Conversion Rate: The percentage of users who take a desired

action (e.g., sign up, make a purchase, etc.) after clicking a link.

 Sentiment Analysis: Understanding whether the public

perception of your brand is positive, neutral, or negative.

 Hashtag Performance: How well certain hashtags perform in

terms of engagement and reach.

Tools for Social Media Analytics:

  Google Analytics: Can track traffic from social media platforms to
websites.

 Hootsuite: Offers analytics for engagement, post performance,

and more.

 Sprout Social: Helps measure social media campaigns, audience

growth, and sentiment.

 Buffer: Provides insights on audience interactions, engagement,

and post timing.

 Facebook Insights: For analyzing Facebook-specific metrics (posts,

stories, and ads).

 Twitter Analytics: For tracking tweet performance, engagement,

and follower demographics.

Mobile Analytics
Mobile analytics refers to the process of tracking, measuring, and
analyzing the behavior of users on mobile apps or mobile websites. This
helps businesses and developers understand how users interact with
their mobile apps, identify areas for improvement, and optimize app
performance to boost engagement, retention, and revenue.

Key Metrics to Track in Mobile Analytics:

 App Downloads: The number of times your app has been

downloaded from app stores (Google Play, App Store).

 Active Users (DAU/WAU/MAU):

 o DAU (Daily Active Users): Number of unique users engaging
with your app on a daily basis.

o WAU (Weekly Active Users): Number of unique users

engaging with your app on a weekly basis.

o MAU (Monthly Active Users): Number of unique users

engaging with your app on a monthly basis.

 Retention Rate: The percentage of users who return to the app

after a specified period (e.g., 1 day, 7 days, or 30 days). This helps
measure how sticky your app is.

 Churn Rate: The percentage of users who stop using the app after
a certain period. A high churn rate is often a sign that there’s a
problem with user experience or engagement.

 Session Length: The average duration of a user's session in the

app.

 Session Frequency: How often users return to the app within a

given period (daily, weekly, etc.).

 In-App Events: Specific user actions like completing a level,

making a purchase, or sharing content.

 Conversion Rate: Percentage of users who complete a desired

action (e.g., sign up, make a purchase).