Steven Moran (25 January, 2024)
- Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00–12:15
- Location: Communication Intl 4053
- Instructor: Steven Moran (he/him) <steven.moran@miami.edu>
- Office: Merrick Building, Anthropology Department
- Office hours: By appointment via email
The basic principles and methods of data science will be presented. A central theme is the assessment of scientific claims, and subsequent data collection, transformation, quantitative analysis, and reporting of scientific results. Specific topics include for example data wrangling, visualization, and modeling.
- Gain basic principles of data science
- Gain basic competence in learning to think critically about data and models
- Learn to do basic scientific reporting in R, RMarkdown
- Learn basic data manipulation and statistical modeling
- Conduct a scientific data practical
Continuous assessment with data science exercises (graded). Work not submitted by the required deadline will result in a fail for that given assessment.
- Completion of all homework assignment in DataCamp (pass/fail)
- Presentation of material in the weekly reading / data practical (30%)
- Data practical (70%)
Graduate students will have additional readings and an in-class presentation.
Grade scale: The grade scale will be as follows: A+, 99-100; A, 93-98; A-, 90-92; B+, 87-89; B, 83-86; B-, 80- 82; C+, 77-79; C, 73-76; C-, 70-72; D+, 67-69; D, 63-66; F, 0-62. Standard rounding protocols will be used, in that values >0.5% will be rounded up.
The schedule is subject to change, but the most up to date schedule is always available under the Syllabus tab on Blackboard. (If you do not have access to the schedule, email me and I will give you access.)
Weekly Topics
- Introduction, overview, basic tools
- Writing scientific reports
- Data
- Data wrangling
- Data visualization I
- Data visualization II
- Data modeling
- Linear models I
- Linear models II
- Dimensionality reduction and clustering
- Dimensionality reduction and clustering
- Time series analysis
- Machine learning / Data mining
- Presentation of data practicals
An important note about the chapters in this class. We aim to provide a lot of information on each topic – sometimes much more than you will have time to read or go through, for example, multiple different readings and tutorials on the same topic. This often appears in bullet points where we give multiple resources on the same topic.
This highlights an important learning point of this course:
Read what you need.
A note on learning how to code. If you have no experience, it will likely be a steep learning curve. Search engines are your friend. If you encounter an error, try searching on that error by copying and pasting it into search. Almost always, someone else has already encountered and solved your problem!
Please don’t struggle for hours on the same problem! Reach out if needed. For example, StackExchange is a popular place for coding questions. You can also ask your instructor in class or via email.
But in any case make sure you provide a reproducible example! For example:
- http://adv-r.had.co.nz/Reproducibility.html
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5963269/how-to-make-a-great-r-reproducible-example
The code and the data are needed to reproduce the error or issue
Lastly, every classroom has students with different levels of experience. The goal is that you understand and can implement the learning objectives in this course. It is not the goal that you go through every single URL provided in each lecture in detail. But of course read what interests you!
Good luck and have fun!!!
Respectful participation and conduct: Open and mutually respectful communication of varied opinions, beliefs, and perspectives encourages the free exchange of ideas that is essential to higher learning. We welcome debate and critical arguments but do not tolerate harassment or discrimination. Conduct that is disrespectful can result in dismissal from the course. For example, there is zero tolerance for comments that are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, or that demonstrate other forms of discriminatory language.
Academic Integrity: The University of Miami Honor Code applies to all students. Violations of this policy include all forms of scholastic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, cheating on an examination, copying or collaborating on assignments without permission, fabrication or falsification of data or records, and other forms of deceit, dishonesty, or inappropriate conduct. Violations of academic integrity for any assignment may result in no credit being received for that assignment. As a serious ethical and legal violation, it can further result in failure of the course and possible dismissal from UM. Please see the detailed Honor Code for further information: https://doso.studentaffairs.miami.edu/student-conduct/index.html
Disability Services: Students wishing to request services or accommodations should register and provide appropriate documentation to the Office of Disability Services, reachable at 305-284-2374. More information is available at https://camnercenter.miami.edu/disability-services/accessibility/index.html. Please inform me of any accommodations you require.
Mental health: The University of Miami Counseling Center provides a range of resources to help students resolve personal and interpersonal difficulties. These include, for example, concerns about academics, feelings of anxiety and depression, conflicts with or worry about friends or family, concerns about eating or drinking patterns, and other challenges. Please visit https://counseling.studentaffairs.miami.edu/ to explore available resources; or call 305-284-5511 or stop by the Counseling Center to make an appointment. If you need someone to talk to after normal business hours, call 305-284-5511.
Bias reporting: The University has a process through which students, faculty, staff, and community members who have experienced or witnessed incidents of bias, prejudice, or discrimination can report their experiences. A bias incident may take the form of a verbal interaction, cyber-interaction, physical interaction, or interaction with property. See: https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?UnivofMiami&layout_id=1 Division of Student Affairs: The Division of Student Affairs aims to foster a caring and inclusive environment for the UM community. See https://www.studentaffairs.miami.edu/index.html or visit specific Divisions, for example Veterans Services (https://doso.studentaffairs.miami.edu/student-support/veteran-student services/index.html), the LGBTQ Student Center (https://lgbtq.studentaffairs.miami.edu/index.html), or Multicultural Student Affairs (https://msa.studentaffairs.miami.edu/about/index.html).
Sexual misconduct and accommodations based upon sexual assault: The University of Miami seeks to maintain a safe learning, living, and working environment free from all types of sex-based and gender-based discrimination prohibited by state and federal laws, including Title IX and Title VII, and in keeping with the University’s values and policies. All members of the UM community are bound by the Sexual Misconduct Policy, which can be accessed under the “Policies and Procedures”” tab at https://titleix.miami.edu/index.html.
If you need help, there are multiple options open to you. Please visit
https://titleix.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/gethelp.pdf to find out where
you can seek medical attention, talk to someone confidentially, learn
about your reporting options, and seek protective measures. For an
emergency, call 911. For immediate, non-emergency help, you can call the
University’s 24-hour Sexual Assault ResourceTeam at 305-798-6666.
If a student comes to me to discuss or disclose an instance of sexual assault, sex discrimination, sexual harassment, dating violence, domestic violence or stalking, or if I observe or becomes aware of such an allegation, I will keep the information as private as I can, but I am required to immediately report it to the University’s Title IX Office.
The University is committed to offering reasonable academic accommodations to students who are victims of sexual assault. Depending on the specific nature of the situation, such measures may include but are not limited to: implementation of a no-contact order, course/classroom assignment changes, and other academic support services and accommodations. See http://itsonus.miami.edu/get-help/seek-protective-measures/index.html for more information. To request protective measures, you may contact the Dean of Students Office at 305-284-5353 or doso@miami.edu