November’s Essential Business MOOCs

Foundations of Data Analysis

School: University of Texas-Austin

Platform: EdX

Registration Link: Foundations of Data Analysis

Start Date: November 4, 2014 (13 Weeks)

Workload: 3-6 Hours Per Week

Instructor: Michael J. Mahometa, Ph.D

Credentials: Mahometa is a statistical consultant and manager of consulting services at the University of Texas, where he manages a team responsible for supporting faculty and graduate students with statistical analysis. He is also a lecturer in the school’s Department of Statistics and Data Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in experiential psychology.

Graded: EdX makes numerous certifications available. Although students can simply audit the course, they can also earn honor code certificates (confirms you completed the course without verifying your name), verified certificates of achievement (includes your name and picture), and XSeries certificates (available when you complete a series of courses on a particular topic). The latter two certificates require a small fee.

Description: This hands-on course is equivalent to an undergraduate statistics course, with the added benefit of a modeling section. Each week begins with a question, with data and an analytical framework provided to help students to help them interpret and summarize their findings. The course is divided into three sections: descriptive and visualization statistics (distributions, contingencies, variables, regression); modeling data (exponential and logistic); and inferential statistical tests (t-tests, chi-square, ANOVA). Aside from a unifying question, each weekly session includes instructional and tutorial videos followed by lab exercises.

Review: No reviews.

Additional Note: Students will need to install R and RStudio software on their PC.