HW 5 - Statistics Experience

Due: Fri, Apr 15

The world of statistics and data science is vast and continually growing! The goal of the statistics experience assignments is to help you engage with the statistics and data science communities outside of the classroom.

You may submit the statistics experience assignment anytime between now and the deadline.

Each experience has two parts:

1️⃣ Have a statistics experience

2️⃣ Make a slide summarizing on your experience

You must complete both parts to receive credit.

Part 1: Experience statistics outside of the classroom

Complete an activity in one of the categories below. Under each category are suggested activities. You do not have to do one these suggested activities. You are welcome to find other activities as long as they are related to statistics/data science and they fit in one of the six categories. If there is an activity you’d like to do but you’re not sure if it qualifies for the statistics experience, just ask!

Category 1: Attend a talk or conference

Attend an talk, panel, or conference related to statistics or data science. If you are attending a single talk or panel, it must be at least 30 minutes to count towards the statistics experience. The event can be in-person or online.

Category 2: Talk with a statistician/ data scientist

Talk with someone who uses statistics in their daily work. This could include a professor, professional in industry, graduate student, etc.

Category 3: Listen to a podcast / watch video

Listen to a podcast or watch a video about statistics and data science. The podcast or video must be at least 30 minutes to count towards the statistics experience. A few suggestions are below:

This list is not exhaustive. You may listen to other podcasts or watch other statistics/data science videos not included on this list. Ask your professor if you are unsure whether a particular podcast or video will count towards the statistics experience.

Category 4: Participate in a data science competition or challenge

Participate in a statistics or data science competition. You can participate individually or with a team. One option is DataFest, which will take place over the April 1-3, 2022 weekend. More information to follow here.

Category 5: Read a book on statistics/data science

There are a lot of books about statistics, data science, and related topics. A few suggestions are below. If you decide to read a book that isn’t on this list, ask your professor to make sure it counts toward the experience. Many of these books are available through Duke library.

  • Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil
  • How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information by Alberto Cairo
  • The Theory that Would Not Die by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne
  • The Art of Statistics: How to learn from data by David Spiegelhalter
  • The Signal and the Noise: Why so many predictions fail - but some don’t by Nate Silver
  • How Charts Lie by Alberto Cairo
  • List of books about data science ethics

Category 6: TidyTuesday

You may also participate in a TidyTuesday challenge. New data sets are announced on Monday afternoons.You can find more information about TidyTuesday and see the data in the TidyTuesday GitHub repo.

A few guidelines:

✅ Create a GitHub repo for your TidyTuesday submission. Your repo should include

  • The R Markdown file with all the code needed to reproduce your visualization.
  • A README that includes an image of your final visualization and a short summary (~ 1 paragraph) about your visualization.

✅ The visualization should include features or customization that are beyond what we’ve done in class .

✅ Include the link to your GitHub repo in the slide summarizing your experience.

Category 7: Coding out loud

Watch an episode of Coding out loud (either live or pre-recorded) and work through the project.

A few guidelines:

✅ Create a GitHub repo for your Coding out loud submission. Your repo should include

  • The Quarto file with all the code needed to reproduce your visualization.
  • A README that includes an image of your final visualization and a short summary (~ 1 paragraph) about your visualization.

✅ The final product (visualuzation, table, etc.) should include features or customization that are beyond what was achieved in the Coding out loud episode.

✅ Include the link to your GitHub repo in the slide summarizing your experience.

Part 2: Summarize your experience

Make one slide summarizing your experience. Submit the slide as a PDF on Gradescope.

Include the following on your slide:

  • Name and brief description of the event/podcast/competition/etc.
  • Something you found new, interesting, or unexpected
  • How the event/podcast/competition/etc. connects to something we’ve done in class.
  • Citation or link to web page for event/competition/etc.

Click here to see a template to help you get started on your slide. Your slide does not have to follow this exact format; it just needs to include the information mentioned above and be easily readable (i.e. use a reasonable font size!). Creativity is encouraged!

Submission

Submit the reflection as a PDF under the HW 5 - Statistics Experience assignment on Gradescope by Fri, Apr 15 at 5 pm ET. It must be submitted by the deadline on Gradescope to be considered for grading.