“Understanding Social and Economic Data” (aka INFO7470) is designed to provide students a detailed overview of the US federal statistical system, where data comes from and how it can be used for research. The course also aims to teach students basic and advanced techniques for acquiring and transforming raw information into social and economic data. The course is taught as a mixture of self-guided online videos (MOOC-style) together with in-classroom discussions of the material. Students from multiple universities, scattered across the country and participating via videoconference, and from multiple domains (economics, demography, geography, statistics) contribute to the discussion. This is the introduction.