QSS 30.11 Applied Machine Learning for Social Science
Machine learning is a framework for modeling data, where patterns encoded in a data are "learned" by a model. These patterns are sometimes used to make predictions about data that the model has not yet "seen." The amount of data available to social science researchers has exploded in recent years. Advances in machine learning have given social scientists new tools to make sense of these data to answer big and important questions.
This course will introduce the theoretical foundations of machine learning, statistical inference, and prediction; explore the many applications of statistical machine learning to social science research, and examine the broader social impacts of algorithms and machine learning on contemporary politics and society.