Free course · Advanced Technology
Data Science Starter
A free introduction to data science: the project lifecycle, exploring a dataset, basic statistical reasoning, visual storytelling and handling personal data responsibly.
Free · self-study · no certificate
About 6 hours
2 modules · 5 lessons
What you will be able to do
- Describe the stages of a data science project
- Explore a dataset with pandas and summarise what it shows
- Present findings with a clear chart and protect personal data
Who it's for
- Learners with some Python or spreadsheet experience
- NGO and business staff who work with survey or sales data
Before you start
Basic Python is helpful for the code examples.
Module 1 · about 120 minutes
From Question to Insight
The lifecycle, exploratory analysis and statistical inference.
- Frame a question and explore data
- Interpret correlations carefully
Module 2 · about 80 minutes
Communicating Responsibly
Visualisation and storytelling, then privacy and security.
- Choose an honest chart
- Mask and protect personal data
Further learning
- pandas User Guide — The official guide to loading, cleaning, grouping, reshaping and analysing data with pandas.
- Machine Learning Crash Course (Google) — A practical introduction for when your data science work moves into predictive modelling.
Continue with a full program
- Data Science — Collect, clean, and analyze data to support decisions in government, NGOs, and business.
- Machine Learning (ML) — Build models that learn from data for prediction, classification, and decision-making.
- Business Data Analytics & Advanced Excel — Clean data, build dashboards, create reports, and visualize business insights using Power BI.
Want the full Data Science program?
This free course is an introduction. The full program is taught live by an instructor, with practical assignments, assessments, projects and a certificate.
See the Data Science program