2019 SIBS Program

This year the 2019-NCSU-Duke SIBS Data Hack-A-Thon was a data analysis assignment where 20 SIBS participants work in 5 assigned teams to tackle a large, complex data set on opioid drug consumption with the goal of addressing scientific research questions. Opioids are a class of drugs which include heroin, fentanyl, and a myriad of prescription painkillers. These drugs, because of their potency and euphoric pain-relieving properties, are notorious for dependency.

The publicly available data set contained information on 1885 individual’s drug consumption, demographic characteristics, and the big 5 Personality Factors (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness).

The students were asked to explore various questions; e.g., Is there is an association between personality factors and opioid use? Are there combinations of personality factors associated with higher risk of opioid use? etc.

Each team delivered a 15-minute presentation describing the research question(s) describing the statistical approach and results of their analysis. Teams were judged by faculty members and three groups were awarded trophies for “Best Data Visualization”, “Best Insight” and “Best Surprise Element”