Big Data for Social Good
Professional Certificate Program
This Harvard Online series teaches core concepts in data science, economics, and statistics and equips you to tackle the pressing challenges of our time.
What You'll Learn
The American Dream—the idea that through hard work any child can rise up and achieve a higher standard of living than their parents—is fading: only half of kids today will go on to earn more than their parents did. Why has this happened? And, how can we reverse the fading of the American Dream? What if we could use big data to address problems such as the fading American Dream, growing income inequality, or persistent racial disparities?
The Big Data for Social Good online professional certificate series will teach you how to use big data, coupled with the tools of data science and economics, to solve some of the most important social problems of our time. In the first course, Evaluating Upward Mobility: The Fading American Dream, you will learn about the history of socioeconomic mobility and how geography plays a role in access to opportunity. In the second course, Big Data Solutions to Economic and Social Disparities, you will see how big data can be used to measure mobility related to K-12 education and how data can be used to solve social problems. This professional certificate series will help those working in nonprofits or NGOs, government agencies, public health, and education to use data-driven tools for social impact.
Using big data, we can see how the specific neighborhoods in which we grow up and the schools we attend shape our life outcomes—and how we can take these insights to create better opportunities for all. Big social problems require big data solutions.
After completing the Professional Certificate in Big Data for Social Good, learners will understand how to:
- Examine historical income, education and family support, and geography to understand how these economic factors lead to upward mobility.
- Uncover the drivers of economic mobility by studying differences over time and across areas.
- Utilize tools of modern economic analysis such as linear regressions, quasi-experiments, and causal inference.
- Put economic theories into practice in the real world.
- Learn how community leaders are using research to inform policy change.
Who Will Benefit
Community activists and nonprofits
Use big data and economic principles to gain support and advocate for change in underserved communities.
Policy advocates and public sector employees
Serve the needs and requests of your communities better through evidence-based research and defined policy outcomes.
Students and Recent Graduates
Learn how to combine disparate data sets that lead to key findings, insights, and solutions for addressing economic societal problems.