The amount of data available to social science researchers has exploded in recent years. Advances in machine learning have given social scientists new tools to make sense of these data to answer big and important questions that we did not have the tools to answer just a few years before. In this class we will introduce a wide range of machine learning methods and their applications to social science.

Course Goals:

1. To introduce the theoretical foundations of machine learning, statistical inference, and prediction
   
2. To explore the many applications of statistical machine learning to social science research
   
3. To examine the broader social impacts of algorithms and machine learning on contemporary politics and society