314004 Reading Course "Statistische Wissenschaften" (S) (WiSe 2025/2026)

In the "Reading Course", students should gain an insight into current statistical topics and work through the relevant subject area under the guidance of a supervisor using specialised literature.
This module focuses on independent familiarisation with various subject areas. In the "Reading Course", students should learn to deal with new statistical research areas and to work on topics independently.

WiSe 2025/26: We will closely examine the book Basketball Data Science: With Applications in R by Paola Zuccolotto and Marica Manisera. Practical work using R will also be an integral part of the course. Together, we will explore the book’s content, as well as selected papers, to deepen our understanding of data science methods in the context of basketball through independent study and group discussions
In each session, 1–2 students will present a summary of the current material (typically a part of a chapter and a matching paper), which will largely determine their grade. Beyond that, this class aims to equip the students with the ability to critically question the methodology employed in basketball analytics, and thus it is expected that students actively participate in discussions. All participants are expected to read the current material before the weekly sessions. In the first session, we will discuss the modalities and start to plan the presentations.

The course language will be English. In case there are only German native speakers in the class we might consider switching to German.

Requirements for participation, required level

It will be expected that participants are familiar with basic statistics (e.g. from introductory courses in statistics, stochastics or econometrics).

Basic knowledge of R would be helpful but is not strictly required.

Bibliography

Zuccolotto, P., & Manisera, M. (2020). Basketball Data Science: With Applications in R (1. Aufl.). Chapman & Hall/CRC