Jessica M Rossi

The most important takeaway I got from the class is the role that data plays in organizations. Data plays an important role in business processes, and it is good to have knowledge of how it’s used in different contexts. If I were to explain this course to another student, I would tell them they’d learn about data conceptually and how it affects…[Read more]

Instagram:

rows: individual posts
columns: user, timestamp, location, caption, hashtags, media type (photo or video), media size

An example of a KPI that’s relevant in every day life is nutrition information on foods that we intake. We each have a goal for calories and nutrients depending on variables like height, weight, activity level, etc. The measurements of nutritional content are precise, and getting inside of a target range for number of calories or grams of protein…[Read more]

I’ve definitely sorted data before and only selected a portion of the data. This is awful because it corrupts all of the data. Luckily I had a backup of the data saved, but it took a little while for me to work with the corrupted data before I realized something was off.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/very-short-men-have-fewer-sex-partners/

This article from FiveThirtyEight is exploring the relationship between a person’s height, BMI, and the number of sex partners they’ve had. They found that, on average, men who are shorter tend to have less sex partners than men who are of average height and above…[Read more]

I believe that simplifying is the most important of the 8 core principles. Simplifying the data gives you the basis to execute the other principles. Without simplifying the data, it could be difficult to compare or draw any conclusions from the data. When your data is simplified, there is minimal to no confusion and all of the irrelevant…[Read more]

The most important takeaway for me was to see how large of a role data has in businesses (although it upsets me to refer to the university as a business, that is precisely what it is). Business has taken on the role of technology in a big way, and in turn it seems there is now a role for scientists in businesses. It was interesting to see how the…[Read more]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/public-transit-should-be-ubers-new-best-friend/

This article presents an analysis of Uber usage in New York City by average household income and access to public transportation. The conclusion that they come up with is that good access to public transportation, along with a higher income, make a person more…[Read more]

An example of conventional wisdom is that getting a degree (high school, baccalaureate, or beyond) increases one’s salary. To test this, I would survey a diverse group of people throughout different industries, asking questions about salary, benefits, years of employment, industry, etc. Then I would see if there is a strong correlation between…[Read more]