Foundations and Scoping of Data Science

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive framework for understanding data science, detailing its core components, lifecycle, and interdisciplinary nature to establish a systematic foundation for the field.

Contribution

It offers the first systematic, end-to-end framing of data science, including its ecosystem, development process, and interdisciplinary aspects.

Findings

Defines the core components of data science

Models the data science lifecycle

Highlights the interdisciplinarity of the field

Abstract

There has been an increasing recognition of the value of data and of data-based decision making. As a consequence, the development of data science as a field of study has intensified in recent years. However, there is no systematic and comprehensive treatment and understanding of data science. This article describes a systematic and end-to-end framing of the field based on an inclusive definition. It identifies the core components making up the data science ecosystem, presents its lifecycle modeling the development process, and argues its interdisciplinarity.