Telling Stories with Data: Statistics, Modeling, and Visualization

The aim of this course is to provide students with the skills necessary to tell interesting and useful stories in real-world encounters with data. Specifically, they will develop the statistical and programming expertise necessary to analyze datasets with complex relationships between variables. Students will gain hands-on experience summarizing, visualizing, modeling, and analyzing data. Students will learn how to build statistical models that can be used to describe and evaluate multidimensional relationships that exist in the real world. Specific methods covered will include linear, logistic, and Poisson regression. This course will introduce students to the R statistical computing language and by the end of the course will require substantial independent programming. To the extent possible, the course will draw on real datasets from biological and biomedical applications. This course is designed for students who are looking for a second course in applied statistics/biostatistics (e.g. beyond PUBHLTH 391B or STAT 240), or an accelerated introduction to statistics and modern statistical computing.