Data Science

by John D. Kelleher

to the problem might fit into an organization’s processes. This domain expertise guides the data scientist as she works toward identifying an optimized solution. It also enables her to engage with real domain experts in a meaningful way so that she can illicit and understand relevant knowledge about the underlying problem. Also, having some experience of the project domain allows the data scientist to bring her experiences from working on similar projects in the same and related domains to bear on defining the project focus and scope. Data are at the center of all data science projects. However, the fact that an organization has access to data does not mean that it can legally or should ethically use the data. In most jurisdictions, there is antidiscrimination and personal-data-protection legislation that regulates and controls the use of data usage. As a result, a data scientist needs to understand these regulations and also, more broadly, to have an ethical understanding of the implications of his work if he is to use data legally and appropriately.