Marketing x Data Science
Takanori Tanaka, 3rd year, School of Commerce
I chose School of Commerce to broaden my horizons through business.
I applied to School of Commerce because I wanted to broaden my view of the world and deepen my understanding through business. It all started with geography in high school. As I studied topics such as how the world works today, the population and social systems of each country, and sometimes even the mechanisms of convenience stores, I became interested in the world as a whole.
I am currently enrolled in the Marketing and International Business Track course at the Faculty of School of Commerce. I am also participating in School of Commerce 's Global Management Program (GMP), which aims to help students become international business leaders by studying all subjects at the Faculty of School of Commerce in English.
Tanaka says he often eats lunch around Waseda.
Basic concepts of AI that even non-science majors can understand
I have wanted to learn about data science since I was in high school, and in the spring semester of my first year of undergraduate studies I took the required courses "Statistical Literacy α/β" and "Basic Statistics" in School of Commerce. I became interested in statistics, so I took "Statistical Analysis with R". I would like to use the skills I have learned in my future work, and another attractive feature of data science is that the certification system gives you a tangible proof of what you have learned. I have currently passed the literacy, beginner, and intermediate levels of Certification Program in Data Science, and I hope to pass the advanced level next year.
Among the courses I took, the one that made the biggest impression on me was "Data Science of Regression and Classification" that I took in my second year. In this class, I learned about methods to improve the accuracy of statistics, such as regression analysis and classification, and we learned theories related to recent AI technology. For example, I was able to understand for the first time terms I had only heard of before, such as "deep learning" and "ensemble learning."
Before taking the course, I thought that information science technology and AI were not relevant to liberal arts students, but after taking the course, I realized that specialized knowledge in areas such as marketing is necessary to use such technology. It was very interesting to feel that even liberal arts students like us can master technology and AI.
In addition, in the class "Data Science Practice," we actually analyzed data and submitted a report. This was the first time I was able to gain a practical understanding of data analysis, and I would like to continue putting it into practice in the future.
One thing that was a bit difficult for me was that I didn't have many friends around me who were interested in data science. When I had questions about how to use programming software, which I had never used before in a data science class, or when I had a question about data science, I didn't have anyone I could ask. In the end, I spent a lot of time solving the problems myself, but now that I'm working as a learning assistant (LA) at the Math & Stat Center, I want to tell people, "If that happens, ask an LA for help" (laughs).
The Center for Data Science 's office. Consultations with staff are available.
The appeal of Center for Data Science is that it allows you to intuitively grasp theories
In the seminar, we study marketing using statistical analysis methods. Specifically, we conduct surveys, collect data, and analyze it statistically. It is possible to study a wide range of topics related to marketing, such as CSR and advertising.
I am currently working on a project to determine how the use of emojis in advertising affects consumer purchasing behavior. The basic theory for this type of problem is unique to marketing, but data science is required to actually analyze it.
All conversations in the seminar are in English. To be honest, I haven't been very good at English since I was in high school, but I think it was good that I learned English beforehand because I was able to understand the content of the English conversations because I originally studied data science. English is essential to be successful internationally in marketing, but I think it is important to have English ability that also includes understanding statistical knowledge.
During the summer vacation, I participated in a long-term internship at Center for Data Science. At the company where I interned, I analyzed customer attributes and trends based on data about the platform services that the company actually provides to its customers, and based on the results, I made proposals to increase the rate of continued use of the services.
Internship at NEC Corporation Digital Business Platform Unit
Participated in a pet-related service business
Combining my majors of marketing and data science in my internship gave me a lot of confidence. I believe that in the future, I will be able to create new value by applying my knowledge of marketing and data science to other fields after I enter the workforce. All faculties at Waseda University offer data science courses as open courses to the entire university, and I believe this type of environment will have a synergistic effect not only on me but also on other fields.
In recent years, information has become a compulsory subject in high schools, data analysis has been introduced to more mathematics curricula, and students have also started learning programming. I think that high school students are also getting more opportunities to realize the importance of data science.
What I felt through my activities in LA is that data science is perceived as difficult by many students. However, Waseda's data science courses are structured so that anyone can learn them, and the theory can be learned as intuitively as possible. It is an easy learning environment even for those who are not good at math, so if you are even slightly interested, I would encourage you to give it a try.
