Schedule
Assignments
Some assignments have associated readings, which are listed in the reading column. Due dates are tentative for assignments that are not yet released.
| Due date | Assignment | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Wed Jan 24 at 5pm | Problem Set 0 | |
| Wed Jan 31 at 5pm | Problem Set 1 | Cheng 2021 |
| Wed Feb 7 at 5pm | Peer Review 1 | |
| Wed Feb 14 at 5pm | Problem Set 2 | England et al. 2020 |
| Wed Feb 21 at 5pm | Peer Review 2 | |
| February break | ||
| Wed Mar 6 at 5pm | Problem Set 3 | |
| Wed Mar 13 at 5pm | Peer Review 3 | |
| Wed Mar 20 at 5pm | Problem Set 4 | |
| Wed Mar 27 at 5pm | Peer Review 4 | |
| Spring break | ||
| Wed Apr 17 at 5pm | Problem Set 5 | |
| Wed Apr 24 at 5pm | Project writeup + presentation slides due | |
| Th Apr 25 8:40–9:55am | Project presentations in discussion | |
| Wed May 1 at 5pm | Peer Review 5 | |
| Th May 2 8:40–9:55am | Project presentations in discussion |
Meetings
Readings are to be read after class, unless otherwise specified. Readings from R for Data Science (R4DS, Wickham et al. 2023) are intended as references that do not need to be read line-by-line but are a useful reference to support ideas.
| Date | Type | Topic | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23 | Lecture | Welcome | Jencks 2002 p. 49–53 |
| Jan 25 | Discussion | Visualization | R4DS Ch 1 |
| Jan 30 | Lecture | Sampling: Simple random and unequal probability | Probability sampling |
| Feb 1 | Discussion | Data transformation (day 1 / 2) | R4DS Ch 3 |
| Feb 6 | Lecture | Sampling: Stratified, clustered, and the future | Groves 2011 |
| Feb 8 | Discussion | Data transformation (day 2 / 2) | R4DS Ch 3 |
| Feb 13 | Lecture | Statistical learning | Berk 2020 Ch 1 p. 1–5, stopping at paragraph ending “…is nonlinear.” Then p. 14–17 “Model misspecification…” through “…will always be in play.” |
| Feb 15 | Discussion | Statistical learning activity | |
| Feb 20 | Lecture | Predicting life outcomes | Optional: Salganik et al. 2020 |
| Feb 22 | Discussion | PSID Income Prediction Challenge (day 1 / 2) | |
| February break | |||
| Feb 29 | Discussion | PSID Income Prediction Challenge (day 2 / 2) | |
| Mar 5 | Lecture | PSID Income Prediction: Awards and takeaways | Optional: Lundberg et al. 2024 |
| Mar 7 | Discussion | Racial wealth gap | |
| Mar 12 | Lecture | Political origins of racial inequality | |
| Mar 14 | Discussion | Class inequality exercise | |
| Mar 19 | Lecture | Class + gender inequality | |
| Mar 21 | Discussion | Project work | |
| Mar 26 | Lecture | Asking research questions | |
| Mar 28 | Discussion | Project work | |
| Spring break | |||
| Apr 9 | Lecture | Moral arguments: Rawls | Recap of ideas is here |
| Apr 11 | Discussion | Project work | |
| Apr 16 | Lecture | Moral arguments: Nozick | Recap in 3:49–5:05 here |
| Apr 18 | Discussion | Project work | |
| Apr 23 | Lecture | Reducing inequality: Educational expansion | Brand 2023 Ch 1 |
| Apr 25 | Discussion | Project presentations | |
| Apr 30 | Lecture | Reducing inequality: Reparations | Before class, watch Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| May 2 | Discussion | Project presentations | |
| May 7 | Course summary |