In this course, we will follow closely the structure of our textbook (i.e., Llaudet and Imai 2023) to present students with important topics in the field of data science for marketing. The list of core topics is below:
1. Introduction to R
Since we will use the R programming language in all the data science assignments in this course, there will be 1-2 sessions where students will be introduced to R, RStudio, and R Markdown and their basics. Note that no prior knowledge of R is required.
2. Causality and experimentation
While causality is one of the most crucial topics in science in general and data science in particular, it is also a difficult topic to study for many people. In this session, we will discuss important conditions to make a (valid) causal claim and what to do when those conditions are not met.
3. Measurement and survey research
Another fundamental topic in data analysis is measurement. Here we will talk about different measurement issues that can occur with a given marketing data set such as reliability and validity. We will also discuss the importance of sampling and the representativeness of our sample.
4. Prediction
It is common for marketing researchers or data analysts to predict future customer behaviors, the firm’s market share, or the future conditions of the market. In this session, we will discuss possible modeling approaches to do prediction (e.g., multiple linear regression) and how to interpret the results.
5. Probability
There is a lot of uncertainty when we work with data and depending on our purposes, we often need to calculate certain probabilities conditional upon a given list of assumptions. With this topic, students will be introduced to the relevant concepts about probability and probability distribution, in addition to the major differences between the two popular (and dominant) perspectives: frequentist and Bayesian statistics.
6. Uncertainty
Students will learn about how to quantify uncertainty in data analysis (e.g., how to calculate and interpret confidence intervals, how to conduct hypothesis testing, etc.).