HealthyR Notebooks: democratising open and reproducible data analysis in resource-poor environments

Year of award: 2018

Grantholders

  • Dr Riinu Ots

    University of Edinburgh

Project summary

Traditionally, data analysis has required complex software and equipment, making it inaccessible in low-income countries. It is an urgent priority to empower clinicians to perform their own robust reproducible data analysis in resource-poor environments. 

We will democratise data analysis with a lightweight, open, scalable solution tailored specifically to healthcare researchers. Data notebooks allow analysis and reporting in one document to create open and reusable data analysis. This open source software can be accessed by a web browser or with software that can be used on a cheap laptop. The open-source RStudio system gives users access to state-of-the-art data algorithms that have been updated for use by medical researchers in resource-poor environments.

We will modify our healthcare data analysis course into a globally scalable, open access resource. This will provide a fully functioning toolbox with which researchers in low-income countries can start their own data analyses.