Dealing with Data

Catalog description

Dealing with data is a fundamental skill for the modern world. In this course, we will learn two broad dominant paradigms for how to deal with data. The first way deals with extracting causal relationships from data. The second way focuses on summarizing and describing patterns in data. Building from first principles, we will explain the basic ideas and concepts behind each of these approaches, and explore how they relate to each other. Throughout the course, we will incorporate data from the US and the UK, and we will see plenty of examples from across computer science, engineering and economics. There are no prerequisites for this course: We will adapt the level to meet student needs, including having open-ended assignments to allow students to engage with the material at their current level.