bsds

Behavioral and Social Data Science

Welcome to the Behavioral and Social Data Science major in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin! Data Science is a huge field that touches almost everything, from astronomy to molecular biology to genetics to medicine to business to government to – more recently – artificial intellegence. This major is designed to meet the needs of students who are interested in questions about behavior and social interaction that are traditionally asked in psychology (or related) departments, but are keen to build skills in data analysis, machine learning, data visualization, etc. The goal of the major is thus to train generations of data-science-ready graduates grounded in a solid understanding of human psychology, knowledge of the ethical responsibilities of their skills, and the technical toolkit to tackle a wide variety of problems in behavioral data science. Graduates of the major should be well prepared to entire the field of data science directly with any organization that uses behavioral data (which is basically all large organizations nowadays), or pursue graduate education in a number of fields.

 

What is unique about Behavioral Data Science?

• Human centered approach: Deep understanding of the human psychological processes, strengths, and weaknesses. Understanding underlying psychological processes, concepts, and biases of human behavior. 
• From data to insight: Deep understanding and interpretation of behavioral data 
• From data acquisition to science: Ability to design and create studies to collect data instead of simply relying on pre-acquired datasets. 
• From theory to practice: Using model-based theory and data analytics skills to solve real-world problems.