Number of weekly car accidents at an intersection, number of published articles by faculty, number of falls in a hospital per week. These are examples of count data. Statistical modeling of count data sometimes requires special handling. For starters, counts are discrete and they can’t be negative. Counts can also have odd or highly skewed distributions. For these reasons we need special methods to model count data. In this workshop we cover various types of count models and how to assess, interpret and visualize them.

R is available to everyone. The only prior knowledge assumed for this workshop is basic experience using R such as how to open an R script, read in and manipulate data, and submit R code as well as some comfort with basic linear modeling. Although not required, we recommend attending the Linear Modeling with R workshop as a prerequisite. Be sure to bring a laptop in order to participate.