Research Methods

Exercise pages and course materials

Welcome

This site hosts the interactive exercise pages for Research Methods. Each exercise runs R code directly in your browser — no installation required.

Phase 1: Biomass Mini-Project (Weeks 1–4)

Is UK biomass electricity carbon-neutral? You’ll explore real energy data, build figures, test assumptions, and write a policy briefing.

Week	Content Session	Application Session
1	—	Meet the data
2	Your first ggplot	Making the biomass case
3	—	Changing the assumptions
4	—	Write, review, reveal

Phase 2: Your Project (Weeks 5–10)

Choose your own sustainable energy question and investigate it.

Week	Content Session	Application Session
5	Designing your investigation	Your question, your plan
6	Check your assumptions	First tests
7	Comparing groups	Deepening your analysis
8	Models and their limits	Fitting and breaking models
9	—	Checking your work
10	Common pitfalls	Write and submit

Saving your work

The code editor remembers what you type between visits (stored in your browser). But always copy your finished code into a .R file in your GitHub repo and commit it. Browser storage can be cleared — Git is permanent.