No Coding Background, No Problem: How I Taught Myself R for My MSc Thesis

From Excel to R: How I Navigated My MSc Thesis Without a Coding Background

When I began my MSc Psychology thesis, I had no experience coding. I wasn’t from a data science background, hadn’t taken any classes and was used to working in Excel and SPSS. But my project involved Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and I quickly realised: SPSS wasn’t going to do what I needed.

So I pivoted and decided to learn R.

Why R?

R is free, powerful and widely used in psychological and social science research. I’d heard of packages like lavaan for SEM and knew others had used it for thesis projects. What I didn’t have was any coding experience. But I was determined to make it work!

How I Learned (Without Formal Training)

I taught myself R entirely through self-directed learning, using:

🎥 YouTube tutorials to walk through real coding workflows and examples
📚 Blog posts and online guides to understand structure and logic
🤖 ChatGPT to help me debug and explain errors in plain English
💬 R documentation and Stack Overflow whenever I got stuck

It was like learning a new language… At times it felt overwhelming, but it was also incredibly satisfying. Every small success boosted my confidence.

By the end of the project, I had learned how to:

Import, clean and transform data using tidyverse
Visualise data with ggplot2
Conduct SEM analyses using lavaan
Interpret and write up results for a formal academic thesis

What Happened After the Thesis?

Something unexpected: I realised I actually liked the challenge of coding. It pushed me to think differently and gave me a new way to approach problems.

After submitting my thesis, I enrolled in a couple of courses at the Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis, where I deepened my R skills in an intensive, hands-on setting. I took a Web Scraping and Data Management course where I learned SQL, and solidified that learning in a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and SEM class. These experiences helped me gain confidence in applying more complex methods and managing data more efficiently.

I’ll be returning again this year to explore machine learning and more advanced statistical techniques this summer.

In the meantime, I’ve also started learning Python to broaden my data analysis capabilities and explore areas like automation, NLP and applied research.

Can You Learn to Code in Your 30s or 40s?

Absolutely.

You don’t need to be a programmer. You don’t need a computer science background. What you do need is curiosity, persistence and a clear reason to start.

Learning to code in my 40s wasn’t just doable, it’s become one of the most empowering parts of my academic journey. What began as a necessity for my thesis has evolved into a long-term passion and a completely new skill set.

📂 Want to see what I built?

Code & SEM Walkthrough: GitHub link Published Paper: Springer link

📩 Let’s connect!
I’m always happy to share resources or talk about adult learning, research tools and academic coding.
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