Category Archives: Weekly Brief

In this week’s Brief, we look at hierarchical and mixed models.  Our course spotlight is April 10 – May 8:  Generalized Linear Models April 24 – May 22:  Mixed and Hierarchical Linear Models See you in class! – Peter Bruce Founder, Author, and Senior Scientist Mixed Model – When to Use? In 1861, the BritishContinue reading “Mar 2: Statistics in Practice”

In this week’s Brief, we look at social categories, and the role that statistics and data science have played in social engineering – 100 years ago and today.  Our course spotlight is April 3 – May 1:  Categorical Data Analysis See you in class! – Peter Bruce Founder, Author, and Senior Scientist The Normal ShareContinue reading “Feb 24: Statistics in Practice”

Last week we looked at several metrics for assessing the performance of classification models – accuracy, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves, and lift (gains).  In this week’s Brief we move beyond lift and cover uplift. Our course spotlight again is: Feb 28 – Mar 27:   Persuasion Analytics and Targeting See you in class! –Continue reading “Feb 17: Statistics in Practice”

Tomorrow is the New Hampshire political primary in the US, and this week’s Brief looks at the statistical concept of lift.  Our spotlight is on: Feb 28 – Mar 27:   Persuasion Analytics and Targeting See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Founder Lift and Persuasion What do you do with late-paying and defaulting customers? Continue reading “Feb 10: Statistics in Practice”

In this week’s blog, we discuss our recent acquisition by Elder Research Inc. We also look at the “Canary Trap” and its connection to text mining. Our course spotlight is on Jan 31 to Feb 28: Text Mining using Python (still open for registrations, first assignment due in a week) Feb 28 -Mar 27: NaturalContinue reading “Feb 3: Statistics in Practice”

This week we discuss the importance of choosing the right analytics problem, with a guest blog from Elder Research, Inc., a data science and analytics consulting and training company, with whom we have just joined forces.   Our course spotlight is on: Feb 14 – Mar 13:  Design of Experiments See you in class! – Peter Bruce, FounderContinue reading “Jan 29: Statistics in Practice + Announcement”

This week’s Brief takes a look at ethical dilemmas in data science.  Our course spotlight is on  Feb 21 – Mar 20:  Network Analysis See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Founder and President The Institute for Statistics Education at Statistics.com Ethical Dilemmas in Data Science Know those ads that follow you around the web,Continue reading “Jan 20: Statistics in Practice”

In this Brief, we look at prosaic, but lucrative applications of predictive analytics and forecasting to the automotive industry.  Our spotlight is on our 3-course Predictive Analytics Mastery Series. Start this week with: Jan. 10 – Feb 7:   Predictive Analytics 1 See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Founder and President The Institute forContinue reading “Jan 13: Statistics in Practice”

Happy New Year! We are grateful for your continued support and appreciate your interest in learning more about statistics, analytics, and data science. In this new year, think of your learning as an investment both in the future of your company and your career. Below are courses, certificates, and pathways to help you get started. We’re available to help youContinue reading “Jan 6: Statistics in Practice”

In this Brief, we take a look at the use of simulations as a tool to help sales people with a complex sale (high value, multiple aspects to consider).  Our spotlight is on the 3-course Mastery Series in Optimization Research, which starts January 10 with: Jan 10 – Feb 7:  Optimization with Linear Programming SeeContinue reading “Dec 30: Statistics in Practice”

In 2005, the cardboard box was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame (along with Candy Land). In our brief this week we consider whether analytics has anything to say about cardboard boxes. Our course spotlight is on: Jan 3 – 31:  R Programming Advanced  Jan 24 – Feb 21:  Visualization in R withContinue reading “Dec 16: Statistics in Practice”

This week we look at the casino business – in particular, the odds on slots. In our course spotlight, we start looking at some of the great stuff starting in at the beginning of the new year. In January, you can get started with basic statistics or biostatistics, start our certificate program or degree programs in analytics, get introduced to R programming or PythonContinue reading “Dec 6: Statistics in Practice”

In this week’s Brief, we take a look at the history of betting and how it is entwined with probabilistic decision-making. Probabilistic decision-making is also the focus of our 3-course Optimization Mastery, which covers linear programming, integer programming, simulation and other operations research (O/R) techniques. Start with: Jan 3 – 31: Optimization – Linear Programming See youContinue reading “Nov 25: Statistics in Practice”

This week we look at several ways to fool yourself, statistically – variants of the “Gambler’s Fallacy.” Gambling is all about accurately assessing risk, so, naturally, our featured course is: Nov 15 – Dec 13: Risk Simulation and Queuing See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Chief Academic Officer, Author, Instructor, and Founder The Institute forContinue reading “Oct 14: Statistics in Practice”

This week we take a look at how AI encodes human bias, despite our best efforts. Our spotlight this week is on: Nov 8 – Dec 6: Deep Learning See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Chief Academic Officer, Author, Instructor, and Founder The Institute for Statistics Education at Statistics.com Machine Learning and Human Bias DoesContinue reading “Oct 7: Statistics in Practice”

Here in Part 2 of the Weekly Brief, we offer some tools to help you with the question, “what is the optimal set of alternatives to offer consumers?” Our course spotlight is on: Aug 30 – Sep 27: Discrete Choice Modeling and Conjoint Analysis See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Chief Academic Officer, Author, Instructor, andContinue reading “Aug 16: Statistics in Practice”

This week we discuss the distinction between explanatory and predictive modeling and spotlight the workhorses of statistical modeling: Oct 4 – Nov 1: Regression Analysis Oct 4 – Nov 1: Categorical Data Analysis See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Chief Academic Officer, Author, Instructor, and Founder The Institute for Statistics Education at Statistics.com Explain or Predict? Are you flummoxed by the profusion ofContinue reading “Aug 13: Statistics in Practice”

We continue Monday’s discussion of “people analytics’ with a look from the customer’s side and a call for all thinkers! (see below) Our course spotlight is on: Sep 6 – Oct 4: Predictive Analytics 1 – Machine Learning Tools Sep 6 – Oct 4: Programming 1 (R or Python) See you in class! – Peter Bruce, Chief AcademicContinue reading “Aug 9: Statistics in Practice”

In this week’s Brief, analytics comes to the HR department (“people analytics”), and our course spotlight is on:  Sep 6 – Oct 4:  Predictive Analytics 1 Sep 6 – Oct 4:  Programming 1 (R or Python)     These courses are excellent entry points into our data science certificate programs: Analytics for Data Science (focuses on offContinue reading “Aug 5: Statistics in Practice”

In part 1 of this week’s brief, we looked at political analytics; in Part 2 we extend that look to commercial domains. Our course spotlight is Persuasion Analytics, taught by Ken Strasma, who pioneered the use of statistical modeling to microtarget voters in the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign. Aug 23 – Sep 20: Persuasion Analytics SeeContinue reading “Aug 2: Statistics in Practice”