Data Description and Visualization Workshop-Syllabus
Data Description and Visualization Workshop-Syllabus
WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR
Alessandro Recla
Academic Fellow
Decision Sciences Department, Bocconi University
[email protected]
Alessandro Recla is SDA Fellow of Knowledge Group Decision Sciences and Business Analytics at
SDA Bocconi School of Management. He teaches in SDA Bocconi Executive courses on Data
visualization and Dashboard design topics.
He is currently Academic Fellow in different universities: Bocconi University since 2006, member
of Decision Sciences Department, he teaches Statistics (undergraduate), Principles of Business
Analytics (graduate in management), Tourism Analytics (Master in Economia del Turismo);
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore since 2021, where he teaches Statistics (undergraduate in
Finance); Università dell’Insubria since 2014, where he teaches Applied Statistics (graduate) and
Statistica per l’Economia (undergraduate); Franklin University Switzerland since 2022, where he
teaches Quantitative Methods and Dynamic Forecasting (undergraduate).
He is one of the recipients of teaching awards undergraduate school 2018 and teaching awards
graduate school 2020 based on students’ evaluations in Bocconi University.
Alessandro studied Economics, Statistics and Social Sciences in Bocconi graduating in 2004. He
is married with two children.
He has more than 15 years of experience in consultancy on analytics topic, and recently founded
his own company, Analytics Arts, specialized in analytics and marketing research. His main
research and consulting interests are related to data analytics, modelling, marketing research
and quantitative methods applied to marketing topics for supporting corporate decisions and
processes.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
The main feature of the Data Description and Visualization Workshop is its practical approach
(i.e., no theorem proofs, or formula memorization → the focus is on practical applications and
exercises). The course has a strong practical basis, with an extensive use of supported
simulations. It will alternate theoretical and practical sessions, and also work in small groups with
PC.
The workshop will give to participants an “operational command” of mathematical and statistical
concepts, techniques and calculation procedures, to be able to apply the correct tools, perform
the correct computations, analyse data and interpret results for business issues.
At the end of this Workshop, the participants are able to manage the most common data analysis
techniques: basic descriptive and data visualization to analyse qualitative and quantitative data.
WORKSHOP CONTENT:
In the first part we will focus on data visualization tools to present data and analysis in an
effective way. We will learn how to classify the data and how to use it to create the correct
graph. In other words, we will learn how to transform data into useful information using graphs.
In the second part, we will talk about summary measures: central and non-central tendency
indexes, variability and connection indexes. Then, the focus will be on data analysis, providing
a set of practical application of statistical techniques essentials to the decision making process.
MATERIALS:
For long / extensive calculations PC software (general purpose, e.g. Excel) will be used. We will
use also a data visualization software (Tableau).
Learning material will be provided during the course.
Course readings:
-Slides provided by the instructor (uploaded in the elearning platform BlackBoard)
-Excel and Tableau files for learning support
Further readings
• P. Newbold, W.L. Carlson, B.M. Thorne – Statistics for Business and Economics
Session 5
(3 hours)
Working with possible relationships and forecasting
Topics:
Measures of relationships between variables: covariance and linear correlation coefficient Analysis
of variance
OLS regression
Independence
Simple Linear Regression Model and business applications
Session 6
(3 hours)
Practical session