Statistical graphics and computing courses at the JSM.

Interested in taking a course on stat computing or graphics while you're at the JSM? Here are two options.


Looking at data, 30-31 July.
Dianne Cook, Heike Hofmann and Hadley Wickham.

Graphics are a fundamental part of data analysis, used in initial data inspection and exploration, model building and checking and also communicating information. In this course we will teach the basics of static graphics and move on to the new developments in direct manipulation and dynamic graphics that facilitate exploratory data analysis. The methods taught are readily available in open source software, enabling all participants to reproduce, extend and use them with their own data after the workshop.

Comprehensive data analysis using interactive statistical graphics, 4 August.
Martin Theus and Simon Urbanek

Applied statistics is the basis for decision making and knowledge discovery in a variety of fields and applications. Interactive graphical methods are successfully used in the early stages of the analytic process and appreciated due their ability to identify patterns and anomalies quickly. However, it was not until recently that methods and tools became available that allow the extension of purely descriptive graphical analysis to interactive visualization of statistical properties and model-based analysis. This course consists of a methodology part and a practical, hands-on part. In the first, we will review the basic methodology of interactive graphics in a concise framework. We will also explore the tools available and their fitness for a specific data analytic task. We will further focus on the integration of statistics and models in the interactive visualization in practice. We will also cover the most recent advances in model selection and comparison aimed at understanding model behavior with respect to the underlying data, allowing for models that are better suited for a given application than standard statistical approaches. During the course, we will demonstrate the practical use of the available state-of-the-art interactive graphics software for data analysis. Attendees will be able to (re)run the practical parts on their own and are encouraged to bring their laptops.