Data analysis is the process of scrutinizing, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data to uncover valuable information, support conclusions and aid in decision-making. It’s the step in the intelligence cycle that transforms raw data into useful insights that help businesses gain a competitive advantage.
The first step in a data analysis is to pinpoint the question you’re trying answer or business problem you’re looking to solve. This requires careful investigation and could include forming or revising an initial hypothesis that can then be verified using data.
Once you’ve identified your issue, you can begin collecting data from both external and internal sources. You can make them as organized or as unstructured as you like however, they must contain both qualitative and quantitative data. Data collection and analysis is an iterative process. It is likely that you will collect additional data in order to revisit the question you asked, and any assumptions you’ve made throughout the process.
In this stage you’ll utilize various data analysis techniques and tools to manipulate the data set to find trends, patterns outliers, or variations that can tell a story. Data visualization software, like to convert the data into a graphical format that is simple to comprehend. You could also perform diagnostic or predictive analyses to predict future outcomes or events, for instance.
Next, you will https://apcslonline.com/2023/06/09/what-is-data-analysis/ need to present and interpret your findings. This section should explain the statistical methods used, including any sensitivity or robustness tests that were conducted in addition to the results themselves. If you’ve used any tables or figures, make sure to clearly label them and provide clear captions.
