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.

There will be two statistics experiences during the semester. The first experience should be completed by Sunday, October 18 and the second experience by Sunday, November 8. The live lecture session on October 12 and November 4 will be time dedicated for you to work on the statistics experience.

Each experience has two parts:

1️⃣ Have a statistics experience

2️⃣ Reflect on your experience

You must complete both parts to receive credit.

Part 1: Have a statistics experience

Complete an activity in one of the categories below. Under each category are suggested activities. Note 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 five categories. You can email your instructor if there is an activity you’d like to do but you’re not sure if it qualifies for the statistics experience. Your instructor will also let you know of other events and activities that come up as the semester progresses.

Only one activity per category will count towards the statistics experience. In other words, your two experiences for this class should be in different categories.

Category 1: Attend a (virtual) 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.

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:

Category 4: Participate in a data science competition

Participate in a statistics or data science competition. You can participate individually or with a team. Information for an upcoming data challenge is linked below.

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.

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

Part 2: Reflect on your experience

Write a 1 page summary (single- or double-spaced) about your statistics experience. Save the summary as a PDF file to submit on Gradescope.

The summary should include a brief description of the statistics experience and what you learned. As you write your summary, consider the following:

  • What is something you found particularly interesting and/or unexpected?
  • How does the event connect to something you’ve learned this semester?
  • What is something new you learned about the application of statistics and data science in the real-world, i.e. outside of the classroom?

In addition to the reflection, write a Tweet to summarize your experience (280 characters or fewer)

Submission

Submit the reflection as a PDF under the Statistics Experience assignment on Gradescope. When you open the assignment, you will also find a place to type your Tweet summarizing the experience.

The first experience must be turned in by Sunday, October 18 at 11:59p and the second by Sunday, November 8 at 11:59 to be considered for credit.