This repository contains information about Data Analysis, including the course objectives, policies and the schedule. Please check this repository regularly for updates to the policies and the schedule.
Dr. Oliver Bonham-Carter (Note: said and written as Bonham-Carter, not Carter)
Office Location: Alden Hall 105
Email: obonhamcarter@allegheny.edu
Credits: 4
An introduction to computational methods of data analysis with an emphasis on understanding and reflecting on the social, cultural, and political issues surrounding data and its interrogation. Participating in hands-on activities that often require teamwork, students study, design, and implement analytics software and learn how to extract knowledge from, for instance, financial, political, and scientific sources of data. Students also investigate the biases, discriminatory views, and stereotypes that may be present during the collection and analysis of data, reflecting on the ethical implications of using the resulting computational techniques. During a weekly laboratory session, students use state-of-the-art statistical software to complete projects, reporting on their findings through both written documents and oral presentations. Students are invited to use their own departmentally approved laptop in this course; a limited number of laptops are available for use during class and lab sessions.
Prerequisite: FS102 or FS200, or permission of the instructor.
Students learn to begin and complete an academic research project. In this task, students learn how to;
- Determine ideas for own research projects
- Locate literature for idea
- Determine research project goals and research question
- Assess scope
- Demonstrate feasibility
- Create preliminary data, code, or a product.
- Determine next steps in the project
- Write a proposal
- Other steps involved with research
Throughout the semester students will be exposed to famous dilemmas in technology which will arrive with discussions to encourage positive thinking in ethics. For example, the course will introduce students to ethically inclined concepts in the generation of technology. Such terms include liability, ethics, responsibility, privacy, information governance, data security and others.
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Wickham, Hadley, and Garrett Grolemund. R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data., O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2016.
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Julia Silge And David Robinson. Text Mining With R: A Tidy Approach., O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2019.
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BUGS in Writing: A Guide to Debugging Your Prose (Second Edition). Lyn Dupr'e. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN-10: 020137921X and ISBN-13: 978-0201379211, 704 pages, 1998. References to the textbook are abbreviated as "BIW".
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Writing for Computer Science (Second Edition). Justin Zobel. Springer ISBN-10: 1852338024 and ISBN-13:978-1852338022, 270 pages, 2004. References to the textbook are abbreviated as "WFCS".
The grade that a student receives in this class will be based on the following categories. All percentages are approximate and, if the need to do so presents itself, it is possible for the assigned percentages to change during the academic semester.
| Category | Percentage | Assessment metric |
|---|---|---|
| Class Participation | 10% | check mark grade |
| Assignments | 50% | letter grade |
| Final Project | 40% | letter grade |
| Total | 100% |
| Letter | Range | Letter | Range | Letter | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 96 - 100 | A- | 90 - 95.9 | ||
| B+ | 87 - 89.9 | B | 83 - 86.9 | B- | 80 - 82.9 |
| C+ | 77 - 79.9 | C | 73 - 76.9 | C- | 70 - 72.9 |
| D+ | 67 - 69.9 | D | 63 - 66.9 | F | 59.9 and below |
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Class Participation: All students are required to actively participate during all of the class sessions. Your participation will take forms such as answering questions about the required reading assignments, completing in-class exercises, asking constructive questions of the other members of the class, giving presentations, leading a discussion session in class.
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Assignments (in class and laboratory): These assignments invite students to explore the concepts, tools, and techniques associated with the field of the class. Skills which were discuss in class will be important to students for their work on these assignments. Unless specified otherwise, each laboratory assignment will be due at the beginning of the next laboratory session. Some of the assignments in this course will expect students to give both a short presentation and a demonstration of their work and efforts.
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Final Project: This project will present you with an opportunity to design and implement a correct and carefully evaluated project. Completion of the final project will require you to apply all of the work and skills that you have already acquired in the course during the semester to address a research problem. The details for the final project will be given in class.
Your instructor will be using GitHub Classroom to collect all assignments. It is expected that you are able to effectively use git to submit your work. If you require help, please see your peers, the Technology Leaders, or your instructor.
The three basic commands for submitting work are the following.
git add -A
git commit -m "informative message"
git pushAll assignments will have a stated due date. The electronic version of the class assignments are to be turned in at the beginning of the lab session on the due date. Submissions after the beginning of class are counted as being late.
Assignments will be accepted for up to one week past the assigned due date with a 15% penalty. After that time, the assignment's grade will not be accepted.
Unless special arrangements are made with the course instructor, no assignments will be accepted after the late deadline. If you are requesting extensions for a lab assignment, then you are to email me with your request and also provide a valid reason for your extension. This request must come before the due date of the lab and not on the due date.
The decision to provide you with an extension (or not) will be weighed in light of fairness to your peers who are still able to complete their labs, regardless of their own busy schedules.
Various digital channels will be used in this course for communication, including email, Discord, and the GitHub issue tracker. It is strongly advised for the student to install the Discord app on their computer and smart-phone to be sure to receive all communications from the instructor, as well as, the other members of the class.
Additionally, the course website will be used to store the syllabus, course schedule and information about the classDocs/ repository using the GitHub. Your grades will be communicated to you by a Gradebook GitHub repository.
The classrooms in the Department of Computer Science no longer provide machines for student use. You are to bring your own wifi-ready device to class to be able to follow along with course material. If the class is meeting online using Zoom, then please be sure that you machine is configured correctly to use these services to connect you to the class. As it is your responsibility to maintain your machine, please perform online research to determine how to configure your machine accordingly, or to install any necessary software to enable online meetings.
During the semester, you will be told which software to install on your machine to be prepared for class. Some of the prominent software that we may be using can be found at the following resource.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact Disability Services at 332-2898. Disability Services is part of the Learning Commons and is located in Pelletier Library. Please do this as soon as possible to ensure that approved accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.
Some of the resources on campus are listed below.
- Maytum Center for Student Success
- Allegheny College Counseling Center
- The Winslow Health Center
- Student Life
The Academic Honor Program that governs the entire academic program at Allegheny College is described in the Allegheny Course Catalogue. The Honor Program applies to all work that is submitted for academic credit or to meet non-credit requirements for graduation at Allegheny College. This includes all work assigned for this class (e.g., examinations, laboratory assignments, and the final project). All students who have enrolled in the College will work under the Honor Program. Each student who has matriculated at the College has acknowledged the following pledge:
I hereby recognize and pledge to fulfill my responsibilities, as defined in the Honor Code, and to maintain the integrity of both myself and the College community as a whole.
It is recognized that an important part of the learning process in any course, and particularly one in computer science, derives from thoughtful discussions with teachers and fellow students. Such dialogue is encouraged. However, it is necessary to distinguish carefully between the student who discusses the principles underlying a problem with others and the student who produces assignments that are identical to, or merely variations on, someone else's work. While it is acceptable for students in this class to discuss their programs, technical diagrams, proposals, paper reviews, presentations, and other items with their classmates or other individuals, deliverables that are nearly identical to the work of others will be taken as evidence of violating the Honor Code.
More information about the code may be found at the Maytum Center for Student Success
Types of computer hardware and software are everywhere! Conducting research in computer science is a challenging and rewarding activity that leads to the production of hardware, software, and scientific insights that have the potential to positively influence the lives of many people. As you learn more about research methods in computer science you will also enhance your ability to effectively write and speak about a wide range of topics in computer science. I ask that you bring your best effort and highest enthusiasm as you pursue research in computer science this semester.
Below is a schedule of covered topics as we cover them, along with their associated activities.
| Week # | Dates | Topic | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to the course. Finding ideas by writing keywords and then searching articles that hinge on these ideas | Read the syllabus | |
| 1 | No lab | N/A | |
| 2 | Ideas for research, choosing relevant key words, locating articles, and presenting ideas. Assignment 01 Note: you will have to refresh your browser after clicking on this link to see your working repository with your name in the URL. | hand outs | |
| 2 | presentation time | n/a | |
| 3 | Online Research Notebooks using Hugo web servers. Assignment 02 | hand out, tutorial from class | |
| 3 | lightning talk | ||
| 4 | Using the literature to find valuable resources. Assignment 03 | ||
| 4 | lightning talk | ||
| 5 | What's the gap?! Where does the knowledge end to begin your project. Assignment 04 | ||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | Scope and Feasibility: Is your idea feasible? Can you complete it in the time we have? Assignment 5 | ||
| 6 | |||
| 7 | Prototype: Build something to show how your completed project will look. Assignment 6 | ||
| 7 | |||
| 8 | Finding readers for our senior year. Which faculty members will be best for our project work? | ||
| 8 | |||
| 9 | Final Product: Putting all the above ideas to gether to tell a story of all parts of your project, from beginning to the completion. | ||
| 9 |