Assistant Professor
Answering Interesting Questions with Data
4 Modules
28 Hours
7 hrs per module (approx.)
Rating
About Answering Interesting Questions with Data
There is a huge amount of raw data available on the internet with endless potential.
This four-week course from the University of Michigan will help you learn how to read data in different formats and write programs to scrape data from the internet.
Once you complete this course, you’ll be empowered with the ability to use data to answer high-level and interesting questions.
An essential component of data collection and analysis is the ability to store and manage the data effectively once you’ve retrieved it.
You’ll learn how to use SQL to manage data in relational databases in order to create linked datasets and gain insight into the relationships and meaning that can be derived from your data.
Data is a powerful tool, but its potential can only be unleashed once it is converted and represented as logical information. This process is referred to as data visualization, and it is key to understanding and analyzing data.
You’ll be taught to use charts, scatter plots, graphs, and other mediums in order to transform your data into valuable information that can be used to answer interesting questions.
This course is designed for learners who are interested in extending their Python knowledge, learning a textual programming language, or who would like to be able to communicate with programmers in a professional setting.
Skills You'll Gain
- Data Analysis
- Data Literacy
- Data Mining
- Data Presentation
- Data Visualization
- Graphing
- Python For Data Analysis
What You'll Earn
- Certificate of Completion:
- Certificates of completion acknowledge knowledge acquired upon completion of a non-credit course or program.
Welcome Message
Welcome to Answering Interesting Questions with Data, a hands-on course focused on using real-world data to explore meaningful questions. You will learn to collect, store, analyze, and visualize data from web pages, APIs, and databases. The course emphasizes practical data workflows, collaboration, and communication through analysis and visualization.
This abbreviated syllabus description was created with the help of AI tools and reviewed by staff. The full syllabus is available to those who enroll in the course.
Course Schedule
Module 1: HTML and Beautiful Soup
- Video: Meet Dr. Barb Ericson
- Video: Welcome to the Course
- Video: How is This Course Different?
- Reading: Syllabus
- Reading: Community Engagement Article
- Reading: Course Pre-Survey
- Video: What is Python?
- Video: Why Work in Groups?
- Video: POGIL Roles
- Discussion Prompt: How to Work in Groups
- Video: How to Write Code in the eBook
- Video: Reloading Your Code History
- Reading: Week 1 Overview
- Video: Welcome to the Week 1
- Discussion Prompt: Introduce Yourself | Where in the World Are You?
- Video: Introduction to HTML
- App Item: eBook Login
- Reading: Exercise: Group Work | HTML Basics
- Video: Fix HTML
- Video: The Document Object Model (DOM)
- Reading: Exercise: Group Work | More Group Work on HTML
- Video: Attributes
- Video: CSS Classes
- App Item: Peer Instruction | HTML
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | HTML
- App Item: Exercise: HTML Practice
- Video: Introduction to Beautiful Soup
- Video: How to read sections on Beautiful Soup
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Beautiful Soup
- Video: find vs find_all
- Video: View page source and inspect HTML page elements
- Video: Why use class_ with find or find_all?
- Video: Create a Soup object from a URL
- App Item: Peer Instruction | Beautiful Soup
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | Beautiful Soup
- App Item: Exercise: Group Work | Beautiful Soup
- Reading: Assignment Brief | Scraping Web Pages with Beautiful Soup
- Reading: Assignment Instructions | Scraping Web Pages with Beautiful Soup
- App Item: Assignment Submission | Scraping Web Pages with Beautiful Soup
- Discussion Prompt: Assignment Reflection | Scraping Web Pages with Beautiful Soup
- Discussion Prompt: End of Week 1 Discussion | Working with HTML and Beautiful Soup
- Graded: Week 1 Quiz
Module 2: XML, JSON, and APIs
- Reading: Week 2 Overview
- Video: Welcome to Week 2
- Video: What is XML?
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | XML Reading
- Video: XML terms
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Parsing XML
- Video: Parsing XML
- Video: Fixing XML
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Looping Through Nodes
- App Item: Peer Instruction | XML
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | XML
- App Item: Exercise: XML Practice
- Video: What is JSON?
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | JSON Reading
- Video: XML vs JSON
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Parsing JSON
- Video: Processing JSON
- Video: What is an API?
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Application Programming Interfaces
- Video: Free APIs
- Video: API Authorization
- Video: Get JSON data from an API
- Video: Using Params to Specify API Parameters
- App Item: Peer Instruction | JSON
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | JSON
- App Item: Exercise: JSON Practice
- Reading: Assignment Brief | Working with JSON and APIs
- Reading: Assignment Instructions | Working with JSON and APIs
- App Item: Assignment Submission | Working with JSON and APIs
- Discussion Prompt: Assignment Reflection | Working with JSON and APIs
- Discussion Prompt: End of Week 2 Discussion | XML and JSON
- Graded: Week 2 Quiz
Module 3: Databases and SQL
- Reading: Week 3 Overview
- Video: Welcome to Week 3
- Video: Why use a Database?
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | What is a Database?
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Database Concepts
- Video: Intro to SQLite
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Intro to DB Browser
- Video: How to Download DB Browser
- Video: Exploring a database with DB Browser
- Video: Introduction to SQL in DB Browser
- Video: Basic SQL Statements
- App Item: Peer Instruction | Database
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | Database
- App Item: Exercise: Database Practice
- Video: Using Python to Execute SQL
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Creating a Database Table
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | SQL Summary
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | More SELECT Keywords
- Video: More SELECT Keywords
- Video: Using Python to Select Data
- Video: Using Python for SQL Statements
- Video: Using fetchone and fetchall
- App Item: Peer Instruction | More SQL
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | More SQL
- App Item: Exercise: More SQL Practice
- App Item: Exercise: Database Practice
- Reading: Assignment Brief | Storing API data in a Database
- Reading: Assignment Instructions | Storing API data in a Database
- App Item: Assignment Submission | Storing API data in a Database
- Discussion Prompt: Assignment Reflection | Storing API data in a Database
- Discussion Prompt: End of Week 3 Discussion | Relational Databases and SQL
- Graded: Week 3 Quiz
Module 4: More Databases and Visualizing Data
- Reading: Week 4 Overview
- Video: Welcome to Week 4
- Video: Intro to Spidering Twitter
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Spidering Twitter using a database
- Video: Code for spidering twitter
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Basic Data Modeling
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Multiple Tables
- Video: Code for multiple tables
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Three kinds of keys
- Reading: Exercise: Ebook Work | Using JOIN
- Video: Code with JOIN
- Video: Goals for Database Design
- Video: Intro to OMDB
- Video: Tables for OMDB
- Video: Types of keys and best practices
- App Item: Peer Instruction | Database Join
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | Database Join
- App Item: Exercise: Ebook Work | Practice with SQL JOIN
- Video: What is Matplotlib?
- Video: Why plot data?
- Video: Key Terms
- Video: Example Plots
- Video: Enhancements
- Video: Example Pie Chart
- Video: Plotting Michigan and Georgia data
- Video: Paired bars
- App Item: Peer Instruction | Matplotlib
- Discussion Prompt: Peer Instruction Discussion | Matplotlib
- App Item: Exercise: Ebook Work | Matplotlib practice
- Reading: Assignment Brief | Selecting Data and Creating Figures
- Reading: Assignment Instructions | Selecting Data and Creating Figures
- App Item: Assignment Submission | Selecting Data and Creating Figures
- Discussion Prompt: Assignment Reflection | Selecting Data and Creating Figures
- Discussion Prompt: End of Week 4 Discussion | Visualizing Data
- Discussion Prompt: End of Course Recap
- Reading: Course Post-Survey
Grading Policy
Assessment is based on weekly quizzes that are each worth 25% of your final grade.
Course content developed by U-M faculty and managed by the university. Faculty titles and affiliations are updated periodically.
Intermediate Level
Some related experience required
