96343 - Programming Lab 2

Learning outcomes

Students develop transversal skills with a focus on the development of skills complementary to the quantitative methods’ courses. In particular, students acquire skills in data analysis and in the use of dedicated software and programming languages such as R or Python, as well as skills in data visualization.

Course contents

Students will be taught and trained to use some of the most popular software, RStudio and, in addition, STATA 19, to manage business data structures, and then they will be able to choose one of those listed above to use univariate and multivariate statistical approaches and other basic statistical analysis models. The student will be able to manage the practical applications of different statistical methods, also in relation to the appropriate use of Python in a simple demonstration mode through some scripts generated by AI

Readings/Bibliography

- Davies, D. Tilman. 2020. The Book of R. The first course in programming and statistics, No Starch Press Inc., San Francisco, CA: (USA).
-StataCorp. 2025. Stata 19. Getting Started with Stata for Windows. College Station, TX: Stata Press, pp. 160.
-Das Udayan, Lawson Aubrey, Mayfield Chris Wiley, Norouzi Narges. 2024. Introduction to Python Programming, OpenStax Rice University, Houston, TX: pp. 415.

(*) Only students enrolled in the course and on "Virtuale" will have free access to the publications as above by downloading the PDF files.

Further available option: - SAS Company Ltd. 2011. SAS/IML 9.3 User's Guide, SAS Institute Inc., Cary NC: (USA).

Teaching methods

Where possible, lessons will be held in a computer room where the instructor will use slides, video tutorials, and practical computer work sessions with previously installed software, or students can bring their own laptop/tablet with the required licensed software.

Any other options will be communicated to students by the teacher in advance.

Assessment methods

-Students are charged with a simple duty: during the lessons, group or individual assignments will be given; these will be assessed by the instructor for the purpose of the final grade or pass/fail evaluation. These assignments are to be uploaded to a dedicated OneDrive folder. The link will be provided in class and on the Virtuale platform.

- It is planned a standard test as written exam with multiple closed answers (generally 3 or 5 options) and will consist of 30, in 30 minutes, to produce a maximum final grade of 30/30; the test is considered passed with the minimum score of 18/30, i.e. 18 correct questions out of the 30 foreseen following the University of Bologna regulations.

The test will have a simple set of questions generated randomly; therefore, identical sets of questions are not allowed for each student admitted to the written exam.

The Test will be administered in the computer room through the UNIBO EOL system. Students can refuse the grade only once; there will be adequate time to communicate the acceptance or refusal of the grade, and therefore students are allowed to repeat the exam just a second time in agreement with the teacher.

Teaching tools

During class sessions, useful slides, datasets, and scripts for statistical software are stored in a specific shared folder located in the UNIBO Microsoft OneDrive portal. Only students enrolled in the course will be granted permission to download and upload work, documents, materials, data, and files, and it might be necessary to submit some reports during the lecture sessions held by the teacher.

(*) Note: students attending this course in the computer lab must participate in 2 modules on "General and specific training" promoted by the UNIBO program called Health and Safety

[https://site.unibo.it/tutela-promozione-salute-sicurezza/it/corsi-di-formazione/formazione-obbligatoria-su-sicurezza-e-salute-per-svolgimento-di-tirocinio-tesi-laboratorio], and in particular Module 1 [https://virtuale.unibo.it/enrol/index.php?id=45538] and Module 2 [https://virtuale.unibo.it/enrol/index.php?id=45324] .

Therefore, we suggest attending these 2 sessions at any time and at your convenience for a significant benefit in the workplace.

Links to further information

https://www.linkedin.com/in/giorgio-carlo-cappello-b68b24b8/

Office hours

See the website of Giorgio Cappello