An Introduction to Data Science by Jeffrey S. Saltz and Jeffrey M. Stanton is an easy-to-read, gentle introduction for people with a wide range of backgrounds into the world of data science. Needing no prior coding experience or a deep understanding of statistics, this book uses the R programming language and RStudio® platform to make data science welcoming and accessible for all learners. After introducing the basics of data science, the book builds on each previous concept to explain R programming from the ground up. Readers will learn essential skills in data science through demonstrations of how to use data to construct models, predict outcomes, and visualize data.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 About Data
Chapter 2 Identifying Data Problems
Chapter 3 Getting Started With R
Chapter 4 Follow the Data
Chapter 5 Rows and Columns
Chapter 6 Data Munging
Chapter 7 Onward With RStudio?
Chapter 8 What’s My Function?
Chapter 9 Beer, Farms, and Peas and the Use of Statistics
Chapter 10 Sample in a Jar
Chapter 11 Storage Wars
Chapter 12 Pictures Versus Numbers
Chapter 13 Map Mashup
Chapter 14 Word Perfect
Chapter 15 Happy Words?
Chapter 16 Lining Up Our Models
Chapter 17 Hi Ho, Hi Ho—Data Mining We Go
Chapter 18 What’s Your Vector, Victor?
Chapter 19 Shiny? Web Apps
Chapter 20 Big Data? Big Deal!