Data Science

by John D. Kelleher

Data science encompasses a set of principles, problem definitions, algorithms, and processes for extracting nonobvious and useful patterns from large data sets. Many of the elements of data science have been developed in related fields such as machine learning and data mining. In fact, the terms data science, machine learning, and data mining are often used interchangeably. The commonality across these disciplines is a focus on improving decision making through the analysis of data. However, although data science borrows from these other fields, it is broader in scope. Machine learning (ML) focuses on the design and evaluation of algorithms for extracting patterns from data. Data mining generally deals with the analysis of structured data and often implies an emphasis on commercial applications. Data science takes all of these considerations into account but also takes up other challenges, such as the capturing, cleaning, and transforming of unstructured social media and web data; the use of big-data technologies to store and process big, unstructured data sets; and questions related to data ethics and regulation.