As part of my PhD research, I used Excel to analyse public data about household recycling. I became interested in data science as a PhD student, through hearing about other colleagues' academic research. I started reading about data science and big data during that time. When I finished my PhD, I undertook an online data science course, in which I learnt how to use R, through Futurelearn. After completing that, I decided to do an MSc in Data Science on a part-time basis, while I worked in roles which enabled me to analyse internal data and produce reports using Excel for senior managers. In my own time, I also worked on my own projects, using R and Python, which I have written about on my blog and mentioned on this website.
For me, data science is all about being able to extract information from a very large data source that is useful or relevant for a particular purpose and communicating it. I see data science as a part of the research process - the main difference to other research methods is that computer programs are used to analyse the data and build models quicker and can also be used to collect the data. In that respect, a career in data science would build on my previous research experience, whether during my PhD, as a legal professional or as a journalist.
