An essential Applied Statistical Analysis course using RStudio with Project-Based Learning for Data Science

• Main Authors: GUNAWAN, Aldy, CHEONG, Michelle L. F., POH, Johnson
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: Applied statistical analysis; Project-based learning; RStudio; Databases and Information Systems; Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/4243; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/5246/viewcontent/gunawan_TALE_2018_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This paper presents a newpostgraduate level course, named Applied Statistical Analysis with R. Wepresent the course structure, teaching methodology including the assessmentframework and student feedback. The course covers the basic concepts ofstatistics, the knowledge of applying statistical theory in analyzing real dataand the skill of developing statistical applications with R programminglanguage. The first half of each lesson is dedicated to teaching students thestatistical concepts while the second half focuses on the practical aspects ofimplementing the concepts within the RStudio console. The Project-BasedLearning (PBL) approach is adopted to encourage students to apply the knowledgegained to solve real world problems, answer complex questions and generatehigh-quality results. We present various interesting projects to show how thestudents have implemented their statistical knowledge in solving real problems.It is concluded that combining hands-on experience using RStudio and PBL is aneffective teaching methodology to achieve the desired learning outcomes. Morethan 80% of students agree with the quality and usefulness of projects andthere is a strong positive correlation of 0.74 between the final project gradeand the final grade obtained by the students.