Framework for Data Collection and Analysis (Coursera)

Framework for Data Collection and Analysis (Coursera)

This course will provide you with an overview over existing data products and a good understanding of the data collection landscape. With the help of various examples you will learn how to identify which data sources likely matches your research question, how to turn your research question into measurable pieces, and how to think about an analysis plan.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Furthermore this course will provide you with a general framework that allows you to not only understand each step required for a successful data collection and analysis, but also help you to identify errors associated with different data sources. You will learn some metrics to quantify each potential error, and thus you will have tools at hand to describe the quality of a data source. Finally we will introduce different large scale data collection efforts done by private industry and government agencies, and review the learned concepts through these examples. This course is suitable for beginners as well as those that know about one particular data source, but not others, and are looking for a general framework to evaluate data products.
Course 1 of 7 in the Survey Data Collection and Analytics Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Research Designs and Data Sources
The first course in the specialization provides an overview of the topics to come. This module walks you through the process of data collection and analysis. Starting with a research question and a review of existing data sources, we cover survey data collection techniques, highlight the importance of data curation, and discuss some basic features that can affect your data analysis when dealing with sample data. Issues of data access and resources for access are introduced in this module.

WEEK 2
Measurements and Analysis Plan
In this module we will emphasize the importance of having a well-specified research question and analysis plan. We will provide an overview over the various data collection strategies, a variety of available modes for data collection and some thinking on how to choose the right mode.

WEEK 3
Quality Framework
In this module you will be introduced to a general framework that allows you to not only understand each step required for a successful data collection and analysis, but also helps you to identify errors associated with different data sources. You will learn some metrics to quantify each potential error, and thus you will have tools at hand to describe the quality of a data source.

WEEK 4
Application of TSE Framework to Existing Surveys
In this module we introduce a few surveys across a variety of topics. For each we highlight data collection features. The surveys span a variety of topics. We challenge you to think about alternative data sources that can be used to gather the same information or insights.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Cloud Computing Applications, Part 2: Big Data and Applications in the Cloud (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Cloud Computing Applications, Part 2: Big Data and Applications in the Cloud (Coursera)

Welcome to the Cloud Computing Applications course, the second part of a two-course series designed to give you a comprehensive view on the world of Cloud Computing and Big Data! In this second course we continue Cloud Computing Applications by exploring how the Cloud opens up data analytics of huge volumes of data that are static or streamed at high velocity and represent an enormous variety of information. Cloud applications and data analytics represent a disruptive change in the ways that society is informed by, and uses information.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Pattern Discovery in Data Mining (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Pattern Discovery in Data Mining (Coursera)

Learn the general concepts of data mining along with basic methodologies and applications. Then dive into one subfield in data mining: pattern discovery. Learn in-depth concepts, methods, and applications of pattern discovery in data mining. We will also introduce methods for data-driven phrase mining and some interesting applications of pattern discovery. This course provides you the opportunity to learn skills and content to practice and engage in scalable pattern discovery methods on massive transactional data, discuss pattern evaluation measures, and study methods for mining diverse kinds of patterns, sequential patterns, and sub-graph patterns.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Exploratory Data Analysis (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Exploratory Data Analysis (Coursera)

This course covers the essential exploratory techniques for summarizing data. These techniques are typically applied before formal modeling commences and can help inform the development of more complex statistical models. Exploratory techniques are also important for eliminating or sharpening potential hypotheses about the world that can be addressed by the data.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Leading Healthcare Quality and Safety (Coursera) Coursera
George Washington University

Leading Healthcare Quality and Safety (Coursera)

Ensuring patient safety and healthcare quality is critical and should be a key focus of everyone in healthcare practice. This course provides healthcare practitioners and others with an introduction to the knowledge and skills needed to lead patient safety and quality improvement initiatives at the micro and macro levels. Participants will explore the foundations of health care quality and the science underlying patient safety and quality improvement, design and select effective health care measures, analyze patient safety problems and processes using tools such as human factors analysis, apply systematic approaches including the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model to address quality improvement challenges, and learn strategies to lead a culture of change

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Python for Data Science, AI & Development (Coursera) Coursera
IBM

Python for Data Science, AI & Development (Coursera)

Kickstart your learning of Python for data science, as well as programming in general, with this beginner-friendly introduction to Python. Python is one of the world’s most popular programming languages, and there has never been greater demand for professionals with the ability to apply Python fundamentals to drive business solutions across industries.

Jun 9th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Statistical Inference (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Statistical Inference (Coursera)

Statistical inference is the process of drawing conclusions about populations or scientific truths from data. There are many modes of performing inference including statistical modeling, data oriented strategies and explicit use of designs and randomization in analyses. Furthermore, there are broad theories (frequentists, Bayesian, likelihood, design based, …) and numerous complexities (missing data, observed and unobserved confounding, biases) for performing inference.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Text Retrieval and Search Engines (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Text Retrieval and Search Engines (Coursera)

Recent years have seen a dramatic growth of natural language text data, including web pages, news articles, scientific literature, emails, enterprise documents, and social media such as blog articles, forum posts, product reviews, and tweets. Text data are unique in that they are usually generated directly by humans rather than a computer system or sensors, and are thus especially valuable for discovering knowledge about people’s opinions and preferences, in addition to many other kinds of knowledge that we encode in text.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Foundations of strategic business analytics (Coursera) Coursera
ESSEC Business School

Foundations of strategic business analytics (Coursera)

Who is this course for? This course is designed for students, business analysts, and data scientists who want to apply statistical knowledge and techniques to business contexts. For example, it may be suited to experienced statisticians, analysts, engineers who want to move more into a business role. You will find this course exciting and rewarding if you already have a background in statistics, can use R or another programming language and are familiar with databases and data analysis techniques such as regression, classification, and clustering.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Infonomics II: Business Information Management and Measurement (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Infonomics II: Business Information Management and Measurement (Coursera)

Even decades into the Information Age, accounting practices yet fail to recognize the financial value of information. Moreover, traditional asset management practices fail to recognize information as an asset to be managed with earnest discipline. This has led to a business culture of complacence, and the inability for most organizations to fully leverage available information assets. This second course in the two-part Infonomics series explores how and why to adapt well-honed asset management principles and practices to information, and how to apply accepted and new valuation models to gauge information’s potential and realized economic benefits.

Jun 10th 2026
4 Weeks
Data Manipulation at Scale: Systems and Algorithms (Coursera) Coursera
University of Washington

Data Manipulation at Scale: Systems and Algorithms (Coursera)

Data analysis has replaced data acquisition as the bottleneck to evidence-based decision making --- we are drowning in it. Extracting knowledge from large, heterogeneous, and noisy datasets requires not only powerful computing resources, but the programming abstractions to use them effectively. The abstractions that emerged in the last decade blend ideas from parallel databases, distributed systems, and programming languages to create a new class of scalable data analytics platforms that form the foundation for data science at realistic scales.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Inferential Statistics (Coursera) Coursera
University of Amsterdam

Inferential Statistics (Coursera)

Inferential statistics are concerned with making inferences based on relations found in the sample, to relations in the population. Inferential statistics help us decide, for example, whether the differences between groups that we see in our data are strong enough to provide support for our hypothesis that group differences exist in general, in the entire population. We will start by considering the basic principles of significance testing: the sampling and test statistic distribution, p-value, significance level, power and type I and type II errors. Then we will consider a large number of statistical tests and techniques that help us make inferences for different types of data and different types of research designs.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks