Working with APIs in R for Data Analysis

Static spreadsheets and CSV files only represent a fraction of modern data. To access real-time information from online platforms, web services, and databases, data practitioners must know how to interact with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). This text-based course guides you through querying web services, managing request parameters, and transforming raw responses into structured data ready for analysis. You will develop a solid understanding of how web requests work and gain the confidence to integrate live data streams into your analysis workflows. What you'll learn: - Understand foundational API concepts, HTTP methods, headers, and status codes - Send GET and POST requests using modern R tooling such as httr2 - Parse and unpack nested JSON payloads into tidy data frames using jsonlite and tidyverse functions - Manage secure authentication methods, API keys, and environment variables safely - Handle pagination, rate limits, and response errors gracefully in automated scripts The course begins with core terminology and architectural concepts before moving into practical code patterns, request construction, and structured data transformation. This material is tailored for beginners with basic R familiarity who want to expand their data acquisition toolkit. No prior networking or API experience is required. Begin reading today and start collecting live data directly from the web with R.