Online Program

Looking to power up your analyses? This course will cover the basics of Python, a flexible language that many consider the Swiss army knife of data work. It includes the basics of setting up Python, working with Python data structures, reading in files, using Pandas for data analysis, and a brief introduction to Python's other capabilities.

Data science is a discipline that has emerged at the intersection of computing and statistics – two disciplines with long standing guidance for ethical practice that feature professional integrity and responsibility. The American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) revised their professional ethical practice standards in 2018. Both sets of guidance represent the perspectives of experienced professionals in their respective domains, but both organizations explicitly state that the guidelines apply to – should be utilized by – all who employ the domain in their work, irrespective of job title or training/professional preparation. The ASA Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice (ASA, 2018) includes 52 items under eight general areas, while the ACM Code of Ethics describes 25 elements across four areas. Both seek to support ethical decision making rather than to establish punishment, or describe explicitly what is right or wrong about aspects of practice. In this workshop, we will examine ethical reasoning, a 6-step process, in support of ethical decision making along the “data science pipeline”. The data science pipeline can be conceptualized as comprising six tasks: Planning/Designing; Data collection/munging/wrangling; Analysis (perform or program to perform); Interpretation; Documenting your work; Reporting your results/communication, plus a seventh area, Engaging in team science/team work. Examples of ethical reasoning in each task will be worked through, to promote engagement with the ethical practice standards of the ASA and ACM. Another “pipeline” to consider is that describing a career trajectory or set of roles, comprising responsibilities of the individual, instructor, mentor, and supervisor. Stakeholder analysis will be used to support reasoning and communication about ethical practice, as well as initiating discussions in the classroom and the workplace.