ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces the topic of applied social data analysis in the R programming language with a focus on data from the United States Census Bureau. The first part of the chapter covers the United States Census and the US Census Bureau, and gives an overview of how Census data can be accessed and used by analysts. The second part of the chapter is an introduction to the R programming language for readers who are new to R. The chapter wraps up with some examples of applied social data analysis projects that have used R and US Census data, setting the stage for the topics covered in the remainder of the book.
