Fall 2018 Election Data Science Course

Election Data Science

Fall Semester, 2018
Monday 8:30-11:30, Dauer Hall 342
POS 6933 – Special Topics (19617)
POS 4931 – Special Topics (21703)

Every two years over a hundred million people across the United States participate in elections. We will examine the large administrative datasets that track these individuals’ activities: registering to vote, actual voting, and the contributions they make to federal candidates. We will read selected academic studies to understand what questions people ask of these data. We will learn the properties of these data, how to manage and analyze them, and how visualize findings, in order to do real-time analyses in the midst of the fall 2018 general election.

This is a combined graduate and undergraduate class. Students’ familiarity with programming and data management is desirable, but not a requirement. We will learn basic programming skills, so enthusiasm is a must. Any graduate student may enroll in POS 6933 (19617) without restriction. If you are an undergraduate interested in the class, please first contact Professor McDonald (michael.mcdonald@ufl.edu) to receive approval to enroll in POS 4931 (21703).