Terminology in Data Analytics As data continue to grow at a faster rate than either population or economic activity, so do organizations' efforts to deal with the data deluge, and use it to capture value. And so do the methods used to analyze data, which…
Data analytics and data science are popular terms, and skills in these areas are in great demand. But what do these terms mean? Below is an overview and a listing of related courses. For information about our certificate programs in data science and analytics, click here.…
Gambler’s Fallacy I - forgetting that the “coin has no memory” Gamblers often believe that after a long streak of one outcome, the probability of a different outcome has increased. Sports commentators often say that a batter in a slump is “due” for a hit.…
In Monte Carlo sampling for simulation problems, random values are generated from a probability distribution deemed appropriate for a given scenario (uniform, poisson, exponential, etc.). In simple random sampling, each potential random value within the probability distribution has an equal value of being selected. Just…
This week we look at several ways to fool yourself, statistically - variants of the “Gambler’s Fallacy.” Gambling is all about accurately assessing risk, so, naturally, our featured course is: Nov 15 - Dec 13: Risk Simulation and Queuing See you in class! - Peter Bruce,…
Anyone who has worked in retail knows the anxiety that attends workforce scheduling for both manager and employee. The manager wonders “Will my employees show up at the right times?” The employee wonders “Will I be scheduled for inconvenient times? Enough hours? Too many hours?” …
The art of statistics and data science lies, in part, in taking a real-world problem and converting it into a well-defined quantitative problem amenable to useful solution. At the technical end of things lies regularization. In data science this involves various methods of simplifying models,…
Does better AI offer the hope of prejudice-free decision-making? Ironically, the reverse might be true, especially with the advent of deep learning. Bias in hiring is one area where private companies move with great care, since there are thickets of laws and regulations in most…
This week we take a look at how AI encodes human bias, despite our best efforts. Our spotlight this week is on: Nov 8 - Dec 6: Deep Learning See you in class! - Peter Bruce, Chief Academic Officer, Author, Instructor, and Founder The Institute for…
There are more than 3 dozen curses in Harry Potter. Data scientists have only one - the “curse of dimensionality.” Dimensionality is the number of predictors or input variables in a model, and the “curse” refers to the problems that result from including too many…
A friendly query about your holiday might be a question you get from a roaming agent in the check-in area at the Tel Aviv airport. Israel, considered to have the most effective airport security in the world, does not rely solely on routine mechanical screening…
Bandit Algorithms for Website Optimization, by John Myles White A classic statistical experimental design comparing treatments (two treatments, treatment versus control, multiple treatments) specifies a sample size, collection of data, then a decision, typically based on hypothesis-testing: the winning treatment must attain a level of…
1.2 million scientific papers were indexed by PubMed in 2011 (see Are Scientists Doing Too Much Research), ample proof that there are lots of people studying the same or similar things. For example, there have been Over 100 studies of suicide following psychiatric institutionalization 38 studies…
Patient Data Management Health analytics is a hot topic now, but to do the analytics you need data - this is where Electronic Health Records (EHR) come in. An integrated, standardized system for sharing and accessing health data has been “just around the corner” now…
Biostatisticians are the shepherds (and the police) that guide the science of developing new therapies for disease. They come in several different flavors: Those involved in gathering information, designing experiments and analyzing data at the drug discovery stage - trying to sort out what works…
Here in Part 2 of the Weekly Brief, we offer some tools to help you with the question, “what is the optimal set of alternatives to offer consumers?” Our course spotlight is on: Aug 30 - Sep 27: Discrete Choice Modeling and Conjoint Analysis See you in…
QUESTION: A friend tosses two coins, and you ask “Is one of them a heads?” The friend replies “Yes.” What is the probability that the other is a heads? ANSWER: One-third. There are four ways the coins could have landed originally: HH: 0.25 probability…
This week we discuss the distinction between explanatory and predictive modeling and spotlight the workhorses of statistical modeling: Oct 4 - Nov 1: Regression Analysis Oct 4 - Nov 1: Categorical Data Analysis See you in class! - Peter Bruce, Chief Academic Officer, Author, Instructor, and Founder The Institute for Statistics Education at Statistics.com…
A casual user of machine learning methods like CART or naive Bayes is accustomed to evaluating a model by measuring how well it predicts new data. When examining the output of statistical models, they are often flummoxed by the profusion of assessment metrics. Typical multiple…
I was visiting New York a couple of weeks ago, transferring from Amtrak to the PATH trains at Newark. PATH takes you to Wall Street - the #1 financial center in the world - and yet the process of paying for my $2.75 PATH ticket…
We continue Monday's discussion of "people analytics' with a look from the customer's side and a call for all thinkers! (see below) Our course spotlight is on: Sep 6 - Oct 4: Predictive Analytics 1 - Machine Learning Tools Sep 6 - Oct 4: Programming 1…
Analytics has come to HR. It’s partly Orwellian, tracking what employees do on the computer, and partly warm and fuzzy, leveraging the true informal organizational structure via network analysis (jump into Friday’s Network Analysis course to learn the basics). One dimension assumes the worst about…
In this week’s Brief, analytics comes to the HR department (“people analytics”), and our course spotlight is on: Sep 6 - Oct 4: Predictive Analytics 1 Sep 6 - Oct 4: Programming 1 (R or Python) These courses are excellent entry points into our data…
Perhaps the most active application of analytics and data mining is healthcare. This week we look at one success story, the use of machine learning to predict diabetic retinopathy, one story of disappointment, the use of genetic testing in a puzzling disease, and a basic…
Question: A baseball team is comparing two of its hitters, Hernandez and Dimock. Hernandez hit .250 in 2017 and .275 in 2018. Dimock did worse in both years - .245 in 2017 and .270 in 2018. Overall, though, Dimock hit better across the two years,…
The application of analytics to agriculture has given rise to what is called "precision agriculture", a science that seeks to take advantage of and use detailed information that is local in time and place. Tractors and farm equipment are being equipped with sensors and software…
Curbstoning, to an established auto dealer, is the practice of unlicensed car dealers selling cars from streetside, where the cars may be parked along the curb. With a pretense of being an individual selling a car on his or her own, and with no fixed…
A prospective study is one that identifies a scientific (usually medical) problem to be studied, specifies a study design protocol (e.g. what you’re measuring, who you’re measuring, how many subjects, etc.), and then gathers data in the future in accordance with the design. The definition…
“The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight.” – Carly Fiorina, former CEO, Hewlett-Packard Co. Speech given at Oracle OpenWorld “Data is the new science. Big data holds the answers.” – Pat Gelsinger, CEO, EMC, Big Bets on Big Data, Forbes“Hiding within those…
