After doing these courses, I feel confident creating professional visualizations and dashboards
Shoebur RahmanProcurement Specialist, Giz Bangladesh
Course Description
In a world where predictions shape our daily decisions, from choosing outfits based on weather forecasts to planning commutes with a glance at traffic conditions, understanding the accuracy and intricacies of predictions becomes paramount. Whether you're an individual making personal choices or someone steering the strategy of an entire organization into the future, questions about the reliability of predictions, the ability to foresee events, and the occasional inaccuracies in forecasts may have crossed your mind. If you've ever wondered why the weatherman seems to miss the mark, our illuminating online course on Error and Uncertainty is designed for you.
Unraveling the Fabric of Predictions
Dive into the fascinating realm of predictions in our Error and Uncertainty course, where you'll not only explore the accuracy of forecasts but also actively engage in making predictions yourself. Gain the skills to differentiate genuine patterns from random noise, equipping you with the tools to make informed decisions in the face of uncertainty. This course goes beyond the surface, delving into the psychological crutches that often cloud our rational decision-making processes. Whether you're examining patterns in Seattle crime data, predicting students' final grades, preventing traffic accidents in Nashville, or assessing the need for changes in a bakery's menu, you'll emerge from this course with a heightened ability to navigate the complexities of error and uncertainty.
Hands-On Learning for Practical Insight
Join us on a captivating learning journey as we guide you through real-world applications of error and uncertainty analysis. Through engaging exercises, you'll apply your newfound knowledge to predict outcomes, identify potential pitfalls, and enhance your decision-making capabilities. From decoding crime trends to forecasting academic performance and mitigating traffic risks, our course provides a dynamic learning experience that promises not only insight but also practical skills applicable in a variety of scenarios. Embrace the challenge of understanding error and uncertainty, and join a community of learners who are certain to find joy in unraveling the mysteries of predictions.
Prerequisites
Curriculum
Course outline
1
Defining error, uncertainty, and risk
The first chapter presents common terminology, introduces methods for determining significant differences between groups, and outlines the kinds of error and uncertainty involved. We will specifically look at Seattle crime data and evaluate crime rate differences between precincts and neighborhoods. This chapter will equip learners to identify threats to the validity and accuracy of their conclusions.
- Defining error and uncertainty50 XP
- Measures of central tendency100 XP
- Crime time100 XP
- IF functions50 XP
- Extracting UNIQUE() values100 XP
- Book 'em and count 'em100 XP
- Averages and IF conditions100 XP
- Counts with multiple criteria100 XP
- Correlation50 XP
- Rap sheet100 XP
- Correlation preparation100 XP
- A (crimes) committed relationship100 XP
- Strong relationships50 XP
2
Making accurate predictions
The second chapter outlines both rudimentary (e.g., moving average, seasonal average, yearly average) and more complicated methods (e.g., linear regression) for making predictions and outlines the kinds of error and uncertainty involved. We will specifically look at anonymized student grades data and evaluate the accuracy of our predictions for given students. Throughout the chapter, we will identify threats to the validity and accuracy of our predictions.
3
Poking holes in predictions
Chapter 3 encourages learners to test the assumptions of their predictions using data on car crashes. Specifically, they will determine how to allocate resources to reduce injuries and fatalities from auto accidents. Learners will discuss the impact of outliers in prediction accuracy, evaluate the importance of normally distributed data in making predictions, employ consequence-likelihood matrices in risk management, and adapt psychological heuristics to discussions of numerical uncertainty and risk.
4
Case study: Should you change your bakery's menu?
The final chapter integrates all the previous lessons into a constructed-world scenario. Learners are tasked with updating the menu at their small business: the Risky Business Bakery. They need to figure out whether to add or drop menu items based on whether there are significant differences in sales by baked good; whether their predicted sales figures from their accountant are accurate.
S
Error and Uncertainty in Google Sheets
Course
Complete
