What is Data Science? An Operational Definition based on Text Mining of Data Science Curricula

Zhiyong Zhang* [Contact author]
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
zzhang4@nd.edu

Danyang Zhang
University of Texas–Austin
danyang.zhang@utexas.edu

Abstract: Data science has maintained its popularity for about 20 years. This study adopts a bottom-up approach to understand what data science is by analyzing the descriptions of courses offered by the data science programs in the United States. Through topic modeling, 14 topics are identified from the current curricula of 56 data science programs. These topics reiterate that data science is at the intersection of statistics, computer science, and substantive fields.

Keywords: Data Science • Topic Modeling • Data Science Curriculum

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35566/jbds/v1n1/p1

Fulltext: Read online

PDF: v1n1p1.pdf

Citation: (APA style) Zhang, Z., & Zhang, D. (2021). What is Data Science? An Operational Definition based on Text Mining of Data Science Curricula. Journal of Behavioral Data Science, 1(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.35566/jbds/v1n1/p1

BibTex format:

@Article{Zhang2021,
  author    = {Zhiyong Zhang and Danyang Zhang},
  journal   = {Journal of Behavioral Data Science},
  title     = {What is Data Science? An Operational Definition based on Text Mining of Data Science Curricula},
  year      = {2021},
  month     = {may},
  number    = {1},
  pages     = {1--16},
  volume    = {1},
  doi       = {10.35566/jbds/v1n1/p1},
  keywords  = {Data Science, Topic Modeling, Data Science Curriculum},
  publisher = {International Society for Data Science and Analytics},
  url       = {https://isdsa.org/jbds/v1n1/p1},
}