Course Overview

[ Unit 0 ]{@date}

Welcome to the Course

organization

• textbooks
• lectures
• assignments
• labs

Tips for Success

Introduction to Data Science

[ Unit 1: Aug 17-24 ]{@date}

This unit defines the concept of “data science” and provides an overview of the course schedule for the semester.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this unit, you will:

• Be able to define data science and provide examples of use in the public sector.
• Create your first R Markdown document.

What is Data Science?

A data scientist is a person who should be able to leverage existing data sources, and create new ones as needed in order to extract meaningful information and actionable insights. These insights can be used to drive business decisions and changes intended to achieve business goals… ‘The Perfect Data Scientist’ is the individual who is equally strong in business, programming, statistics, and communication.

FROM: [ What Is Data Science, and What Does a Data Scientist Do? ]{@reading https://www.innoarchitech.com/what-is-data-science-does-data-scientist-do/}

Universities can hardly turn out data scientists fast enough. To meet demand from employers, the United States will need to increase the number of graduates with skills handling large amounts of data by as much as 60 percent.

FROM: Data Science: The Numbers of Our Lives, The New York Times

“Data Scientists identify complex business problems whilst leveraging data value. They work as part of a multidisciplinary team with data architects, data engineers, analysts and others.”

FROM: Data Scientist Career Pathways in Government.

What is R?

Data Analysts Captivated by R’s Power

How is Data Science Used in Governments and Nonprofits?

https://www.ted.com/talks/anne_milgram_why_smart_statistics_are_the_key_to_fighting_crime

Assignments

PART I

Install R Studio and Pandoc on your machine.

• [ Helpful Vocabulary ]{@handouts https://github.com/DS4PS/Data-Science-Class/raw/master/HANDOUTS/Helpful%20Programming%20Vocabulary.pdf}
• [ Base R Cheat Sheet ]{@handouts base-r-cheat-sheet.pdf}

PART II - MY FIRST MARKDOWN DOCUMENT

Read about Markdown in the Resources tab.

[ Download Rmd Template ]{@lab https://cdn.rawgit.com/DS4PS/Data-Science-Class/master/01-TEXTBOOK/Unit-04-Analysis-with-Groups.Rmd}

Here is what your Markdown file will look like. You need to replace all –>text<– with the appropriate responses formatted using Markdown syntax.

---
output: html_document
---


# Bio for Your Name

--> your picture here <--


## My Home Department

--> link to your home department here <--


## Interest in the Course

--> write a few sentences here <--


## Three Things About Me

--> create a list <--


## BONUS: Something Weird in my Playlist

--> embed a video <--

Functions and Data Types

[ Unit 2: Aug 24-31 ]{@date}

By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Use functions in R.
• Select appropriate data types.
• Change data types through casting.

Key Concepts

• functions()
• arguments
• assignment
• vectors
• objects
• data types
  • numeric
  • charactor
  • factor
  • logical
• casting

Readings

Course text, CH2: Functions Lecture
Course text, CH3: Data Structures

For additional material, check out:

Teetor, P. (2011). R cookbook: Proven recipes for data analysis, statistics, and graphics. “ O’Reilly Media, Inc.”. [ CH 5.2-5.5 ]{@reading http://www.bagualu.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/R_Cookbook.pdf}

Assignments

You have two assignments this week.

Discussion

[ Lab 02 - Functions and Vectors ]{@lab lab-02-instructions.html}