Python - Multivariable Data Analysis

This is a demo on how to use python to conduct statistical analysis on a multivariable data set. ISB microbiologist, Alex Carr, recreated some of the python script he uses to analyze his bacterial samples and applied it to the publicly available iris data set, which is commonly used in statistics demonstrations. The iris data set contains measurements of petal width, petal length, sepal width, and sepal length for three different iris flower types: Setosa, Versicolour, and Virginica. Measurements were taken for 50 flowers total.

The demo is a Jupyter Notebook accessible through a Google Colaboratory here: Iris Dataset Demo

If you are not familiar with Google Colaboratory, you can get started here: Colaboratory Introduction

The demo script demonstrates how to use data imported two different ways: from a python package (Sci-Kit Learn) or a .csv file from your computer. This demo will then walk you through data normalization, linear regression, PCA, heatmaps, and K-means clustering.

  • Data normalization: organizing and structuring your data

  • Linear regression: modeling a relationship between two variables

  • PCA Plot: like a typical linear regression plot, a PCA plot portrays vectors in 2-D space, however, it uses more than two variables.

  • Heatmap: values are assigned to a color scale to help visually portray patterns across a lot of data

  • K-means clustering: determining grouping for vectors based on the vector mean

If you are learning python or need a refresher, you can reference this spreadsheet for common syntax: Python Usage Guide

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Contributors

Alex Carr: PhD Student, ISB
Rachel Calder: Education Coordinator of SEE, ISB
Claudia Ludwig: Director of Systems Education Experiences, ISB
Nitin Baliga: ISB SVP and Director, Founder of Systems Education Experiences

Funding to support the development of this lesson was provided by the National Science Foundation Award DBI-1565166 & 0640950. The content of these pages was created by students for students with the help of teachers and scientists. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or ISB.