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IN PERSON – 5-day Statistics Short Course

Data Mining and Machine Learning Seminar Overview:

An intermediate 5-day course introducing several popular data mining approaches such as regression based methods (ridge and lasso regularized regression, regression splines), tree methods (random forests, boosted trees), and support vector machines, and their application to empirical data. The course combines lectures and hands-on practice using R.

Seminar Topics:

  • Review of linear regression and the least squares criterion
  • Regularization methods (ridge regression, lasso, elastic net)
  • Regression splines
  • Prediction error and k-fold cross validation
  • Tree methods to predict categorical or continuous outcomes (CART, random forest, boosting
  • Support vector machines for classification

Seminar Description:

In the age of rapidly increasing data collection endeavors it has become more and more important to understand how to find structure in data, especially when substantive theory about structural relations between the collected variables is not yet fully developed. This short course starts with briefly outlining the key differences and similarities between standard parametric modeling (e.g., linear regression) and data mining approaches. The course provides basic insights into a number of popular methods such as regression methods (ridge regression and the lasso, regression splines), tree methods (CART, random forests, boosting), and support vector machines. The emphasis is on a conceptual understanding of these methods and their appropriate application to empirical data. Importantly, these methods are useful not only for large data collections, but also more generally for exploratory analyses when the substantive theory to design and fit suitable parametric models (e.g. SEM) is not available. Data mining (aka statistical learning) is used in a wide variety of fields including but not limited to public health, education, biology, and the different social sciences.

Participants are invited to discuss potential data mining applications to their particular field of interest during individual consultations with the instructor scheduled at the end of the second and third day.

Participants will receive an electronic copy of all course materials, including lecture slides, practice datasets, software scripts, relevant supporting documentation, and recommended readings. Participants will also have access to a video recording of the course.

Instructor: Gitta Lubke, Ph.D.

Gitta Lubke is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology/Quantitative Area at the University of Notre Dame. Her research interests are in data mining and general latent variable modeling. In addition to the challenges of analysing complex human behavior such as psychiatric disorders, she is interested in the analysis of genetic data. Related areas of expertise include mixture models, twin models, multi-group factor analysis and measurement invariance, longitudinal analyses, and the analysis of categorical data.

APA Continuing Education Credits:

data mining and machine learning

This course offers 29 hours of Continuing Education Credits. Stats Camp Foundation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Stats Camp Foundation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Seminar Includes:

Materials, downloads, recorded course video viewable for up to one year.

Learning Objectives:

After engaging in course lectures and discussions as well as completing the hands-on practice activities with real data, participants will be able to:

  • Understand some of the key differences and similarities between parametric modeling and data mining methods.
  • Expand the acquired basic knowledge of several popular data mining methods and apply these methods to empirical data.
  • Utilize linear and multiple regression to categorize data.
  • Implement ridge regression and Lasso.
  • Assess and interpret the results of empirical analyses through k-fold cross validation and computation of prediction errors.
  • Implement and evaluate regression splines.
  • Implement and evaluate decision trees to categorize data.
  • Utilize CART and bagging techniques.
  • Implement random forests to evaluate data.
  • Implement and evaluate boosted trees.
  • Understand and utilize support vector machines to evaluate data.
  • Utilize R packages for data mining.
  • Understand and evaluate scientific papers covering data mining applications to empirical data.

Seminar Prerequisites:

Required:

  • advanced proficiency in linear regression, including the estimation of regression coefficients using least squares
  • intermediate familiarity with iterative optimization (e.g. how to use the Newton-Raphson algorithm to find a maximum)
  • Intermediate proficiency with R
  • Intermediate knowledge of exploratory data analysis

Not required but advantageous:

  • At least limited experience (e.g., graduate-level course) in calculus
  • Understanding the relation between multiple testing and Type I error, and, more generally, the challenges of finding relevant predictors in large data sets

No level of proficiency beyond basic awareness is assumed for skills related to:

  • Data mining methods
  • More advanced mathematical or statistical topics such constrained estimation (e.g., using Laplace multipliers)

Software and Computer Support:

Participants need to bring a laptop computer with Wi-Fi capabilities.

All statistical software used at Stats Camp will be available, free to participants, on our SMORS (statistical modeling on remote servers) system for the duration of camp.

All instruction for this course will be based on the freely available software program R. Please make sure to have a recent version installed.

Seminar Audience:

Typically the ideal audience for this course in data mining and machine learning includes:

  1. Students pursuing a degree in computer science, engineering, statistics, or related fields who have a strong background in mathematics and programming.
  2. Researchers and professionals in the fields of data science, data analysis, artificial intelligence, and machine learning who want to learn new techniques and keep up with the latest developments in the field.
  3. Data analysts and data engineers who are interested in learning how to extract insights from large datasets using machine learning algorithms.
  4. Business professionals who are interested in understanding how data mining and machine learning can be applied to solve real-world business problems.
  5. Anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the techniques and algorithms used in data mining and machine learning, and their applications in various fields.

The audience for a course in data mining and machine learning can be quite diverse, but typically consists of individuals with a strong background in quantitative analysis and a desire to apply machine learning techniques to real-world problems.

Course Learning Goals:

After engaging in course lectures and discussions as well as completing the hands-on practice activities with empirical data, participants will be able to:

  • Understand some of the key differences and similarities between parametric modeling and data mining methods
  • Expand the acquired basic knowledge of several popular data mining methods and apply these methods to empirical data
  • Assess and interpret the results of empirical analyses through k-fold cross validation and computation of prediction errors
  • Utilize R packages for data mining
  • Understand and evaluate scientific papers covering data mining applications to empirical data

Seminar Files

Seminar files will be provided by the instructor on the first day of the seminar. You do not need to download anything prior to the event date. All materials will be provided during or after the class.

All statistical software used at Stats Camp will be available, free to participants, on our SMORS (statistical modeling on remote servers) system for the duration of camp.

Monday June 12, 2023
9:00-9:30 Welcome and introductions
9:30-10:45 Simple and Multiple Linear Regression
10:45-11:00 Rest Break
11:00-12:30 Ridge Regression and Lasso
12:30-1:30 Rest Break
1:30-3:00 Application of Ridge Regression and Lasso
3:00-3:15 Rest Break
3:15-5:00 Prediction Error and Cross Validation
Tuesday June 13, 2023
9:00-10:45 Regression Splines
10:45-11:00 Rest Break
11:00-12:30 Application of Regression Splines
12:30-1:30 Rest Break
1:30-3:00 Introduction to Tree Methods
3:00-3:15 Rest Break
3:15-5:00 Individual consultation with instructor
Wednesday June 14, 2023
9:00-10:45 CART and bagging
10:45-11:00 Rest Break
11:00-12:30 Random Forests
12:30-1:30 Rest Break
1:30-3:00 Application of Random Forests
3:00-3:15 Rest Break
3:15-5:00 Individual consultation with instructor
Thursday June 15, 2023
9:00-10:45 Boosted Trees
10:45-11:00 Rest Break
11:00-12:30 Boosted Trees
12:30-1:30 Rest Break
1:30-3:00 Application of Boosted Trees
3:00-3:15 Rest Break
3:15-5:00 Individual consultation with instructor
Friday June 16, 2023
9:00-10:45 Support Vector Machines
10:45-11:00 Rest Break
11:00-12:30 Application of Support Vector Machines
12:30-1:30 Rest Break
1:30-3:00 Individual consultation with instructor
3:00-3:15 Rest Break
3:15-5:00 Individual consultation with instructor

Please fill out and submit the form below to get instant access to sample course materials.

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