Skip main navigation

Predicting human behaviour with big data

Find out how large data sources can help us make better predictions of future behaviour, by allowing computers to spot patterns in large datasets.

Making good decisions requires us not only to make our best possible guess about what is going on in the world right now, but also to make our best estimate of what we think might happen in the future.

As humans, we try to predict what other people are going to do all the time. We often do this by identifying repeating patterns in behaviour – for example, someone’s tendency to be late, or times at which traffic is particularly bad.

Watch this video to find out how large data sources can help us make better predictions of future behaviour, by allowing computers to spot patterns in large datasets that humans alone might not have identified.

This article is from the free online

Big Data: Measuring And Predicting Human Behaviour

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now