Data Analysis for Game Development

Exam 1 Topic Outline

Here is an outline of the topics that might be on Exam 1:

• Introduction
  • Motivation for data analysis for game development
  • Data analysis pipeline
• Fundamentals of statistics
  • Population
  • Sample
  • Variable
  • Observation
  • Parameter
  • Statistic
  • Sources of data
    • Published
    • Experiments
    • Survey
  • Sampling concepts
• Presenting data
  • Types of charts/presentations
    • For categorical data
      • Bar chart
      • Pareto chart
      • Pie chart
      • Cross-classification table
    • For numeric data
      • Frequency distribution table
      • Cumulative distribution
      • Histogram
      • Stem and leaf display
      • Time series plot
      • Scatter plot
      • Radar plot
    • Misc
      • Heat map
      • Movement node-link
  • Guidelines for charts
    • Require minimum effort from reader
    • Maximize information
    • Minimize ink
    • Use commonly accepted practices
    • Avoid ambiguity
  • Describing charts
    • Describe axes
    • Describe data sets/trendlines
    • Provide messages
  • Common Mistakes
    • Presenting too many alternatives on one chart
    • Presenting many y-variables on one chart
    • Using symbols in place of text
    • Placing extraneous information on chart
    • Selecting scale ranges improperly
    • Using line chart instead of column chart
    • Non-zero origins/broken scales
    • Pictograms scaled by height (and other pictorial games)
    • Inappropriate sized cells in histograms
• Descriptive statistics
  • Measures of central tendency
    • Mean
    • Median
    • Mode
  • Measures of variation / spread
    • Range
    • Variance
    • Standard deviation
    • Coefficient of variation
    • Semi-inter quartile range
    • Z-Score
    • Mendenhall's Empirical Rule
  • Charts for showing variation / spread
    • Histograms
    • Cumulative distribution functions
    • Box and whiskers
    • Error bars

IMGD905 Home