Lesson 1 – When you see something, say data

Data is the key to understanding patterns, learning about behaviors, testing your theories, and supporting your arguments. It provides an entry point to get a general idea about anything. Make a commitment to yourself that you will think about data when you see something. Here, I provide some common situations to prime the pump.

  • Preferred Coffee: I am writing this post from a coffee shop. My favorite coffee is espresso. I am curious about what others visiting this shop prefer. I can either sit all day and watch what they buy (which will get the manager suspicious) or ask the cashier about how many people purchased espresso or other coffee (tell them it’s a scientific experiment first!).

  • Cars and Tolls: We all waited in line to pay the toll to use the bridge. Friends from the tri-state area are thinking EZPASS. Yes, next time you pass a toll, think about how many cars pass the toll in a day. We can use this data to understand how many people use the bridge and how much revenue it generates.

  • Fitbit: Look at your Fitbit or smartphone health app. Tell me how many hours your sleep on average.

  • You get the point.

 

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3 thoughts on “Lesson 1 – When you see something, say data”

  1. Thank you for the everyday examples Prof. Devineni, I do have a question; what would be some online sources such as YouTube videos that you would recommend to learn more about R?

  2. I really do believe that proper in general is not aware of the amount of data that we are exposed everyday, everywhere, and under pretty much any circumstance in our lives. I personally have a rough (very rough) idea of this situation, but little by little while this semesters goes by, I am starting to get a more educated idea of how important data is in engineering, but looking at the big picture, in the society (specially in this country where technology is part of us on and we can use our accessibility fully on our favor). Hope to get full advantage of this class, and looking forward to it!! Great post!! Thanks.

  3. Very Nice, thank you prof. I think that, analyzing things is fun, and entertaining!! good examples by the way, I will continue reading more. I walk everyday analyzing things lol, busy mind.

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