MASTER OF SCIENCE IN DATA ANALYTICS

Data Has a Story. Be the One to Tell It.

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PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Butler’s Master of Science in Data Analytics program empowers students with the analytical skills required to create and deploy data-based actionable insights which improve decision-making in their organization.

Students learn technical skills, like predictive analytics and effective visualization techniques and enhance their soft skills, like critical reasoning and ethical decision-making, through an interdisciplinary curriculum. The Master of Science degree in Data Analytics offers two concentrations: Business Analytics and Healthcare Analytics. No matter the path, Butler’s holistic approach to data analytics ensures students leave the program with the knowledge and skills they need to excel in today’s data-centric world.

  • Learn from data analytics experts and gain real-world connections.
  • Employ key technologies in data analytics including data mining, machine learning, visualization, and predictive modeling.
  • Learn to strategically assess decisions and to appreciate the ethical implications of relying on data-driven algorithmic decisions.
  • Become versed in storytelling as a technique for communicating analyses and interpretations, and in presenting visually compelling results to diverse audiences.

QUICK FACTS

SUMMER 2023 NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE

03/27/2023


OVERVIEW

  • Healthcare Analytics Concentration: 31-Credit Hours
  • Business Analytics Concentration: 32-Credit Hours
  • 11 Courses
  • 100% Online with weekly live instruction
  • Scholarships Available

COURSES

The MS in Data Analytics program consists of two foundational skills courses, five core courses, and four concentration courses. All programs feature a flexible online model where students take one seven-week course at a time.

FOUNDATIONAL SKILL

This course serves as the introduction to the Data Analytics master’s program. Its purpose is to introduce to students R and R Studio as a data analytic platform. Students will learn the basics of R by using it to review and learn basic statistical analyses.

Prerequisite: Admission to degree and/or certificate programs or permission from the Program Director.

This online course is an introduction to analytical programming in Python and Data Management using SQL. The course presents foundational material required for the Data Analytic MS Core Courses to ensure students are ready for that material. Some of the course material will be similar to that offered in a computer science course but will focus on the skills most often required by analysts rather than programming and database specialists.

Prerequisite: Admission to degree and/or certificate programs or permission from the Program Director.

CORE

This course provides an experiential introduction to current issues and methods in data mining, applications of some introductory data mining algorithms. A leading statistical and data mining software package, R will be used to apply techniques learned in the class to some modern and classic data sets. Topics include algorithms for supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques.

Prerequisites: DATA600 Data Analysis using R; DATA604 Python Programming and Data Management.

The ability to communicate the results of data analyses is as important as the analyses themselves. This course will introduce topics important to data storytelling, to allow students to become better data presenters and critical viewers of data. Various visualization tools will be presented, and students will learn how best to report data to various types of audiences. Students will gain experience producing interactive, automatically updating data “dashboards.” Students will collaborate to produce collective visual stories, and provide critical reviews of each other’s work. Relevant areas of data ethics will also be introduced, including the protection of customer or patient privacy and the importance of conveying the uncertainty of results.

Prerequisites: DATA600 Data Analysis using R; DATA604 Python Programming and Data Management.

This course will provide an introduction to the advanced analytics and data mining models using health care datasets. The models taught will include different instances of generalized linear regression model, mixture models, time series models (AR, ARMA, ARIMA, TAR, Change Point). Software packages such as R and SAS will be used throughout the course.

Prerequisites: DATA600 Data Analysis using R, DATA604 Python Programming and Data Management; DATA610 Introduction to Data Mining Core course.

This course provides an experiential overview of current issues in data analytics from both analytic and computer sciences perspectives. The focus is on learning techniques for 1) scraping, cleaning, and manipulation of raw data from a variety of live sources and preparing them for analysis, 2) learning to manipulate and reorganize data to apply a variety of analytic tools, and 3) manipulate a variety of data features to enhance to predictive power of statistical models. The focus of this course will be primarily on techniques and tools used to extract data from various sources (primarily live and active data streams), prepare it for analysis, and then apply those analyses with a special emphasis on the understanding of feature engineering: the process of creating representations of data that increase the effectiveness of a predictive model.

Prerequisites: DATA600 Data Analysis using R, DATA604 Python Programming and Data Management; DATA610 Introduction to Data Mining Core courses.

This course will utilize Python to develop text and image processing techniques. Students will leverage industry standard methodologies for text and image processing. Students will gain experience with feature extraction and classification techniques in both visual and textual domains using neural networks and traditional machine learning models. This is a 3-credit hour project-based course.

Prerequisites: DATA604 Python Programming and Data Management; DATA612 Visualization, Storytelling and Ethics

HEALTHCARE ANALYTICS CONCENTRATION

This course will focus on healthcare data governance, management, and ethics. The course will explore the techniques involved with healthcare data capture, cleaning, storage, and security and examine methods to overcome challenges of managing healthcare data across multiple systems. A critical review of the ethical considerations of healthcare algorithm utilization will be conducted.

Prerequisite: None

The purpose of this course is to expose students to the health outcomes research and help them prepare for non-traditional career options, including pharmaceutical industry, managed care, or fellowships. It would entail learning to conduct research in the field of health outcomes and design a research study in a specific therapeutic area or condition. Students are encouraged to select a therapeutic area of interest before the class begins. They can work in groups or individually for the research projects, based on their preferences. They would be required to use SAS Enterprise Guide to conduct the statistical analysis. Overall, the class will help students learn & apply research methodology and statistics to the specific therapeutic area or condition of interest, from the health outcomes perspective.

Prerequisites: None

This course examines the current and future states of healthcare data and explores methods to leverage analytics to optimize healthcare outcomes and value. Students will learn standard healthcare terminologies and relational databases. Students will utilize SQL for analytic applications.

Prerequisite: DATA604 Python Programming and Data Management

In this course, students will collaborate with an institutional partner to apply healthcare analytics principles and techniques to a longitudinal project of mutual interest. Students may choose from a variety of focus areas including hospital and health systems, local health initiatives, technology and innovation, healthcare educational institutions, and industry. This course may be on campus, off-campus, hybrid, or online pending the nature of the scholarly project. The student will submit a project that successfully meets the course outcomes and is approved by the subject matter expert and Program Director.

Prerequisite: DATA 620 Utilization of Health Data; DATA622 Healthcare Data Literacy and Analytics; DATA624 Statistics and Research Methods for Healthcare Analytics.

BUSINESS ANALYTICS CONCENTRATION

This course covers how organizations can use analytics to gather and utilize information to evaluate risk, increase profitability, and generally improve business performance. The material emphasizes data-driven managerial decision making in a structured approach to problem solving. Topics include an introduction to big data, viewing data and analytics capabilities as strategic assets, and employing analytical models to solve problems.

Prerequisite: DATA604

This course reviews the statistical processes and analytical tools marketing managers may need and could employ in order to make decisions regarding marketing functions such as segmentation, targeting, positioning, among other functions. Further, this course reviews the best analytical processes marketing managers may use to evaluate customer lifetime values, customer buying behaviors, international market analyses, and digital marketing effectiveness. The statistical analyses covered include, but are not limited to cluster analyses, descriptive analyses, analyses of variance, regressions, structural equation modeling, and multilevel analyses.

Prerequisite: DATA604

This class covers the analysis of data related to accounting professionals. The focuses include analytic techniques for decision making and the examination of “big data” involving accounting information. Data analytics has become a relevant skill for all business managers and particularly accountants who often know both internal and external data better than anyone inside the organization.

Prerequisite: DATA604

As the last course in the MS in Analytics program, students will have the opportunity to leverage the learning from all core classes and apply their skills in a real-world project. Supply chains are dynamic and complex environments that involve making decisions on different levels and demand the use of real data for real business problems. A set of different analytics tools will be used to collect, organize, and analyze data that support key supply chain decisions, as well as the different challenges and opportunities they pose.

Prerequisites: DATA640, DATA642, DATA644

TUITION COSTS

$950*


Per Credit (31-32 Credits)
*Tuition is subject to change each academic year.

$35


Application Fee**
**Waiver available. Contact your enrollment advisor at 317-324-1305 or OnlineMSDA@butler.edu.

$500


Enrollment Deposit

CAREER OUTLOOK

Earning an MS in Data Analytics may position you for opportunities in the following career paths:

Job Title
Employed (2021)
Median Income (2021)
Job Title General and Operations Manager
Employed (2021) 2,378,526
Median Income (2021) $103,646
Job Title Information Security Analyst
Employed (2021) 144,909
Median Income (2021) $103,584
Job Title Database Administrator or Architect
Employed (2021) 134,008
Median Income (2021) $99,862
Job Title Computer Systems Analyst
Employed (2021) 582,911
Median Income (2021) $93,724
Job Title Statistician
Employed (2021) 41,522
Median Income (2021) $92,268
Job Title Management Analyst
Employed (2021) 759,024
Median Income (2021) $87,651
Job Title Operations Research Analyst
Employed (2021) 98,112
Median Income (2021) $86,195

Source: Emsi Labor Market Data, 2021

IMPORTANT DATES

Term
Early Application Deadline
Priority Application Deadline
Final Application Deadline
First Day of Classes
Summer 2023
January 30, 2023
$1,500 Scholarship Available for Eligible Students
February 27, 2023
$1,000 Scholarship Available for Eligible Students
March 27, 2023
May 8, 2023

Deadline scholarships available to eligible students. Scholarships will be distributed for fall and spring semesters over the course of your enrollment.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We require all applicants to hold a bachelor’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 from an accredited institution or the international equivalent.

No, GRE scores are not required.

We know that students need real-world practice to thrive as professionals upon graduating and moving into the workforce. That’s why we’ve built hands-on experience into our online programs in the form of live debates, presentations, and breakout group discussions with fellow graduate students. The online learning experience combines innovative technology, a carefully considered curriculum, and active partnerships that fully prepare students to be the world-changing professionals they set out to be.

Learning Platform: Canvas

  • Our learning management system, Canvas, serves as students’ centralized hub for all course content and activities—think of Canvas as your college campus. Our students use this system to manage everything from asynchronous course content, course syllabi, assignments, and communication with instructors and peers.

Class Structure and Feel:

  • Includes live debates, presentations, and breakout group discussions with peers, emphasizing group work, collaboration, and a feeling of intimacy within our online classrooms. Students complete coursework, assignments, and readings prior to class and are ready to use learned information in lively classroom discussions. This “flip model” approach to learning allows students to get more out of the live classroom experience.

Review our tuition and fees and create a financial plan; there are multiple payment options and educational loans available. The Office of Financial Aid awards Federal Direct Loans to degree-seeking graduate students enrolled at least half-time (three credit hours). You can contact the Office of Student Accounts for information about billing and payment plans.

Butler’s MSDA offers concentrations in Healthcare Analytics (31 credit hours) and Business Analytics (32 credit hours). Both pathways consist of 11 courses.

On average, students in this program dedicate 15-20 hours per week to their coursework.

Butler’s online programs are designed with the same high-quality curriculum and taught by the same distinguished faculty as our on-campus programs. You’ll learn from industry experts and engage with your peers in small classes through a flexible online format designed to work alongside your busy schedule.

Butler University offers three starts per year for this program—spring (January), summer (May), and fall (August).

Courses in Butler’s online MSDA program consist of asynchronous coursework and live synchronous classes via Zoom. Please note the following regarding our live classes:

  • They are instructed in Eastern Time (ET), typically on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening.
  • They can start as early as 5:00 PM ET or as late as 7:30 PM ET.
  • They can last from 60-120 minutes.

One of the most valuable aspects of our program is the live component that allows you to interact and collaborate with your peers and faculty members through Zoom. Courses in the MSDA program are instructed in Eastern Standard Time (EST). When applying, please consider the time difference between your country and Butler University’s time zone to ensure your academic success in the program.

All non-US citizens are required to provide a copy of their passports, official evaluated transcripts (you are not required to submit a credential evaluation up front, but this may be requested at a later date at Butler’s discretion), and an English language proficiency exam score (TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo). Review the full list of English proficiency requirements.

No. International applicants do not have to submit evidence of financial support.

No. Butler’s online MSDA program does not provide an I-20 to be used for an immigration visa. This degree does not provide an extension or continuation of a current visa status.

REQUEST INFORMATION

Bachelor’s degree required.

By submitting this form, I agree to be contacted via email, phone, or text to learn more about the programs at Butler University.