2012年10月《哈佛商業評論》（Harvard Business Review）將資料科學家（data scientist）稱為「21世紀最性感的工作」（Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century），這是因應大數據潮流所造就的新職種中，最具代表性的，能透過電腦演算分析資料、解讀意義。資料科學家是未來職場中最炙手可熱的明星職業，根據資料軟體相關業者指出，具備資料蒐集與分析的碩士畢業生，「起薪起碼44Ｋ起跳！」如果有一年至兩年經驗的資料探勘人才，平均月薪甚至領到七萬元，都不是問題，換句話說，當上資料科學家，等於擁有一張年薪百萬元的入場券。

《哈佛商業評論》給資料科學家下了一個定義：「資料科學家是懂得從今日如海嘯般非結構化資訊中，撈出重要商業問題解答的一群人。」事實上，資料科學家不只是要像哥倫布般，在茫茫大海中打開探照燈，找出有用的資料，還要如偵探小說家愛倫坡一樣，審視手上的資料，推理出問題的答案。

此外，根據聯合新聞網UDN於2016-12-16的報導，在2016年12月15日於台南成功大學舉辦的全國大專校院研發主管會議中，教育部政務次長陳良基表示，大學現有課程必須翻轉、跨領域，教育部高教司長李彥儀也說，以議題為導向、結合跨領域專長的專題形式課程已是未來趨勢。議題導向的專題式課程，讓學生在自動自發尋求答案的過程中，自動自發學習需要的知識。在「設計思考」的概念中，目前程式設計的能力相當被看重，高教司調查目前全台大專院校學生中只有18.8%的學生有學習程式設計，教育部決定逐年增加，明年(2017年)增加到30%，後年40%、大後年50%。

因此，本課程旨在帶領同學進入大數據(Big Data)、R程式語言設計、問題解決與決策分析的理論與實務殿堂，提供學生一場域，以議題為導向、結合跨領域專長的專題形式，學習有關資料科學與循證公共決策結合的基礎概念、與相關技術等，也為同學將來成為資料科學家做準備。

In October 2012, Harvard Business Review called data scientist "Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century." This is the most representative of the new jobs created in response to the big data trend, and it can analyze data and interpret meaning through computer calculations. Data scientists are the hottest star professions in the future workplace. According to data software related industry players, graduates with a master's degree in data collection and analysis, "the starting salary starts at least 44K!" If a data exploration talent has one to two years of experience, the average monthly salary can even be 70,000 yuan, which is not a problem. In other words, becoming a data scientist is equivalent to having a ticket to an annual salary of one million yuan.

"Harvard Business Review" gives a definition of data scientists: "Data scientists are a group of people who know how to fish out answers to important business questions from today's tsunami of unstructured information." In fact, data scientists not only have to turn on the searchlight in the vast sea to find useful information like Columbus, but also like the detective novelist Edgar Allan Poe, examine the data at hand and deduce the answers to the questions.

In addition, according to a report by United News Network UDN on 2016-12-16, at the National College and University Research and Development Supervisors Conference held at Tainan National Cheng Kung University on December 15, 2016, Chen Liangji, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education, said that existing courses in universities must be flipped and cross-field. Li Yanyi, Director of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, also said that topic-based courses that are topic-oriented and combined with cross-field expertise are the future trend. Topic-oriented thematic courses allow students to automatically and spontaneously learn the necessary knowledge in the process of automatically seeking answers. In the concept of "design thinking", the ability to program is currently highly valued. According to a survey by the Department of Higher Education, only 18.8% of students in Taiwan's colleges and universities currently study programming. The Ministry of Education has decided to increase the number year by year, to 30% next year (2017), 40% the year after that, and 50% the year after college.

Therefore, this course aims to lead students into the theoretical and practical realm of Big Data, R programming language design, problem solving and decision analysis. It provides students with a field-based, topic-oriented topic format that combines cross-field expertise to learn basic concepts and related technologies related to the integration of data science and evidence-based public decision-making. It also prepares students to become data scientists in the future.

1. 邁向大數據的第一步！R語言程式設計精要。Jared P. Lander著，鍾振蔚譯。台北市：旗標資訊，2017年12月。
2. 中、英文書籍與期刊論文。

1. The first step towards big data! Essentials of R language programming. Written by Jared P. Lander, translated by Zhong Zhenwei. Taipei City: Flag Information, December 2017.
2. Chinese and English books and journal articles.