Data Analytics for Public Policy and Social Good

Typically associated with business and tech, analytics is quickly being adopted as a vital tool for government and nonprofit organizations to maximize their impact while dealing with small teams and constrained budgets. This course will show how organizations produce or procure meaningful data, as well as teach how the tools and methods of data analytics are used to inform decision-making in the public sector. It will identify the ways in which data can be used to drive decisions related to spending, organizational efficiency, and reporting.   
 
Along with sections of the course centered on policy-making and nonprofit work, the class will take a focused look at performance management in local government, which has received a lot of attention as we deal with issues of crime and policing in our communities. The collection and release of data on law enforcement and other essential government activities will be evaluated, and students will learn how to build visualizations of trends in government service delivery to help evaluate outcomes.   
 
This class will help students understand how organizations and analysts should leverage data––including what kind of measurements they should focus on or ignore––in order to help transform society for the better.
 
 
COURSE TOPICS:

• Applied statistics, including descriptive analysis related to impact assessment
• Common analytical techniques (e.g., percentiles) deployed in the social sciences
• Understanding different dimensions of data and differentiating between cross-sectional and longitudinal studies
• Data visualization and presentation techniques (histograms, column/row charts, tables, etc)
• Quality assurance approaches (e.g., PDSA and CQI)
• Testing and assessment design

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