Data and Society

Catalog description

Why is data science so influential and popular in business, government and academic research? What are the benefits we gain with expending resources to collect and analyze data, and what is lost when we make decisions about how to classify events? In this class, students will gain a foundational understanding of statistics, data science, and computational data analysis using data sets drawn from real-life problems, primarily with the R statistical software package. They will also be exposed to the philosophical underpinnings of quantitative analysis via scientific inquiry, along with criticism of methods and the way that data-driven analysis can be used to obscure as much as inform. Students will also undertake a group project that will involve independent data analysis on a topic of relevance to world affairs.