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STAT 442Data Visualization

Units
0.50
Faculty
Mathematics
Subject
Statistics

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Visualization methods applied to data. Both human perception and statistical properties inform the methods used to display and visually explore categorical, continuous, time-ordered, map, and high dimensional data. Order and layout effects on tables and graphics. Statistical concepts visually presented include variability, densities, quantiles, conditioning, and hypothesis testing. Interactive graphics include linking, brushing, motion, and the navigation of high dimensional spaces guided via projection indices. Glyphs (e.g., cartoon, statistical, or heatmap) and radial and parallel coordinates.

Prerequisites

  • Must have completed the following:
    • STAT341 - Computational Statistics and Data Analysis (0.50)

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 001612653 / 96MW 10:00–11:20

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00159430 / 150TTh 10:00–11:20
LEC 701232745 / 9999Online or by arrangement

Reviewed on UW Flow

78% liked it41% easy64% useful

From 18 ratings and 8 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Assignments were wroth nothing. final worth 60% and it was pretty tough. just accept to remember specific things from in class and not the slides on the exam and midterm, which youre expected to remember

    Apr 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • had Matthias Schonlau for this. he's a great prof who's pretty easy but somehow his averages don't reflect how easy his courses usually are. he had slides for every class and every class had less and less people. mostly a memorization course with Schonlau, but this definitely is not the same for other profs who teach stat 442.

    Mar 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • The course was a very deep examination of how data is presented. Topics included through and critical examinations of Bar charts, histograms, line charts, and many many more. Lots of examples were presented about how *not* to use certain data visualisations. Workload demand was pretty light, although a huge chunk of your mark is based off a midterm and a final. There were only 5 not too long assignments we had to do. Would highly reccommend taking this with Prof. Schonlau

    Dec 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Just wrote my final exam took it with Oldford, avoid him at all costs because he is very old fashioned, the only thing he posted throughout the term was his lecture slides so I basically studied off of chat-gpt and his slides and that was it. If you want a high mark don't take it with him. I went to his office hour asking if he can provide any supplementary learning materials but he responded by saying that "it is your responsibility to come to every lecture" when he is widely known as a bad lecturer.

    Dec 2024 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Oldford is a little weird and not so subtly right-wing but there's lots of great theory baked into this course and I learned a bunch on data vis. LOTS of pointless stuff like zen-plots though but just as much useful rigorous results as well. Not a bird by any means.

    Nov 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

219 posts and comments in 173 threads mention STAT 442, February 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2024

STAT442 4 points, 0 comments

u/Maremesscamm: “Can anyone please share their experiences with this course. Is it difficult, how does it compare to stat341? The reviews on UWFLOW seem to be out of date and the difficulty level is at 31% I would really appreciate if anyone could share their experiences with this course.”

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STAT 442 Syllabus 1 point, 1 comment

u/1025winners: “Hey, I need to take Stat 442 this Fall term or next Winter term, and was wondering if the prof always has been Oldford recently. Does anyone know how the syllabus look like? Is it doable compared other STAT 44x”

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Spring 2024

STAT442 Experience? 2 points, 1 comment

u/Maremesscamm: “Hi I’m interested in taking stat 442 Only outline available is from fall 2021 which I think was during covid. For those who took it in normal times. Is there an in person midterm and final? And what’s the difficulty like for those?”

u/LongWayToHome: “… he teaches- the materials are during the COVID days, but he hadn't changed much when I took STAT442 during Winter 2023. …”

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Winter 2024

stat 431 & stat 442 on coop 2 points, 0 comments

u/shiba_sky: “Does anyone know if these courses this term are passable without going to lectures? It doesn’t seem like the profs are posting any recordings so i’ll have to study off lecture notes/slides. Also for stat 442 the prof isn’t posting any solutions and there’s no piazza…”

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Fall 2023

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar