by Alfred Lee Lead Data Scientist, White Ops Is curiosity useful for more than serendipitous discovery? Can curiosity be taught? How do I foster curiosity in my team? Can someone be too curious? Questions!

1. The Role and
Importance of
Curiosity in Data
Science
Alfred Lee
Domino Data Science Popup, 2017­06­14

2. “I have no special
talent. I am only
passionately curious.”
­ Albert Einstein

3. Curiosity:
The urge to know more

4. The obvious benefits
• Serendipity
• Acquire skills and knowledge faster

5. The importance in data science

6. The importance in data science
• The goal of science, including data science, is to create new
knowledge

7. The importance in data science
• The goal of science, including data science, is to create new
knowledge
• Science is driven by hypotheses

8. The importance in data science
• The goal of science, including data science, is to create new
knowledge
• Science is driven by hypotheses
• More hypotheses of greater variety lead to a more complete search
of the space of possible knowledge

9. The importance in data science
• The goal of science, including data science, is to create new
knowledge
• Science is driven by hypotheses
• More hypotheses of greater variety lead to a more complete search
of the space of possible knowledge
• Creativity drives the generation of new hypotheses

10. The importance in data science
• The goal of science, including data science, is to create new
knowledge
• Science is driven by hypotheses
• More hypotheses of greater variety lead to a more complete search
of the space of possible knowledge
• Creativity drives the generation of new hypotheses
• Curiosity drives creativity and the testing of those hypotheses

11. The importance in data science
• The goal of science, including data science, is to create new
knowledge
• Science is driven by hypotheses
• More hypotheses of greater variety lead to a more complete search
of the space of possible knowledge
• Creativity drives the generation of new hypotheses
• Curiosity drives creativity and the testing of those hypotheses
• Therefore, more curiosity leads to new knowledge faster and more
reliably

12. Simplified
Curiosity
Creativity
Questions Knowledge

13. I’m curious about….
• Art • Design, data viz

14. I’m curious about….
• Art
• Philosophy
• Design, data viz
• Epistemology, statistics

15. I’m curious about….
• Art
• Philosophy
• Literature
• Design, data viz
• Epistemology, statistics
• Storytelling, rhetoric

16. I’m curious about….
• Art
• Philosophy
• Literature
• Dentistry
• Design, data viz
• Epistemology, statistics
• Storytelling, rhetoric
• That one weird thing that
taught you a lesson

17. Can you teach curiosity?
• Reinforce checking assumptions
• Challenge them to give you a list of questions
• Encourage socializing with people in other departments
• Encourage outside hobbies
• Hire a diverse team
• Lead with creativity

18. Lead with Creativity
• Is there an easier way?
• Where did the data come from?
• What’s the worst that could happen?
• Explain the problem to someone else
• Brainstorming/Brain writing

19. Risks
• Endless rabbit holes
• Missing windows of opportunity
• Irreproducibility
• Abusing data

20. Curiosity
Grit
Communication
& Teamwork
Skills
Statistics
Domain
Knowledge
Technical
Skills
Ethics
Empathy
Self­
awareness
Creativity

21. Thank you!
Alfred Lee
@alphrabet