Interactive Shiny Apps

Didactic Shiny applications that let you explore statistical concepts interactively – one per major topic area

Each of the sixteen major topic areas is paired with an interactive Shiny application that lets a reader explore the central concept of that area hands-on. The apps are hosted on a dedicated Shiny Server and embedded into the relevant tutorial pages through iframe tags, so readers can move between theory, R code, and live exploration without leaving the site.

This section of the site documents each application: what it does, what concepts it is intended to illuminate, which tutorials it is embedded into, and the source code repository where it is maintained. Each app is designed as a self-contained teaching tool – small enough that a reader can understand every parameter, rich enough that meaningful discoveries are possible.

App catalogue

The list below follows the same ordering as the tutorial topic areas. Each entry in the catalogue gives the didactic purpose, the user-facing inputs and outputs, and the intended position of the app within the learning sequence. The source code for every app is kept in its own repository and linked from the individual entry.

Apps

SHINY APP

CLT Explorer

Interactive Shiny app for visualising the central limit theorem across distributions, sample sizes, and statistics

SHINY APP

Summary Statistics Lab

Interactive Shiny app for understanding how location, dispersion, and shape statistics respond to changes in the data

SHINY APP

Distribution Explorer

Visualise and compare discrete and continuous probability distributions with live parameter sliders

SHINY APP

Hypothesis Test Simulator

Simulate null and alternative distributions to see type I and type II errors materialise as areas under curves

SHINY APP

Power Calculator

Interactive sample size and power curves for the most common study designs in clinical and life-science research

SHINY APP

ggplot2 Playground

Build a ggplot layer by layer with live R code output, so every aesthetic choice becomes visible

SHINY APP

Regression Playground

Fit and diagnose regression models interactively: adjust predictors, interactions, and transformations with live output

SHINY APP

PCA Explorer

Upload or simulate data and watch PCA loadings, scores, and biplots update with every choice of scaling and component count

SHINY APP

Time Series Forecaster

Upload a time series, choose a model, and compare forecasts from ETS, ARIMA, and Prophet side by side

SHINY APP

Bayesian Updater

Drag a prior, feed in data, and watch the posterior emerge for the canonical conjugate pairs

SHINY APP

Survival Curve Builder

Interactive Kaplan-Meier curves, log-rank tests, and Cox model fits, all from a single data input panel

SHINY APP

RNA-seq Pipeline Walkthrough

Step through a full DESeq2 differential expression analysis interactively, from count matrix to volcano and MA plots

SHINY APP

ML Workflow Lab

Build, tune, and evaluate a supervised learning pipeline with tidymodels, from preprocessing through to held-out evaluation

SHINY APP

Diagnostic Accuracy Calculator

Compute and visualise sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and ROC curves with prevalence sliders

SHINY APP

Forest Plot Builder

Paste study-level effect sizes and standard errors; get a fixed-effect and random-effects meta-analysis with forest, funnel, and influence diagnostics

SHINY APP

Design of Experiments Lab

Construct factorial, fractional-factorial, and response-surface designs with live randomisation plans and analysis-ready templates