Intro to Data Science

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor

This course teaches students how to synthesize disparate, possibly unstructured data to better understand and characterize the world around us and to draw meaningful inferences from data. Topics covered include fundamentals of programming, data wrangling and probing, data extraction (via web scraping and APIs), data visualization, and data ethics. The course will survey commonly used data science approaches, such as text analysis, machine learning, network, and geospatial analysis. Students will work on a policy-focused data science project that starts with question formulation and data collection and goes through all stages of the life cycle, culminating in data storytelling. The objective of the course is to equip students with the skills to allow data to take an active role in policy and strategy by teaching them to how to tell compelling stories with and draw substantive conclusions from data. No prior programming experience is assumed or required. Pre-requisites: PPOL 502 OR PPOL 532.