Data analysis is the process of scrutinizing the, cleansing, changing, and modeling data to reveal useful information, help make decisions and aid in decision-making. It’s a step in the intelligence cycle that converts raw data into useful insights that help businesses gain a competitive advantage.
The first step in the process of data-analysis is to identify the business problem or question you’re trying to resolve. This requires a lot of research and could involve the creation of an initial hypothesis that can be tested using data.
Once you’ve identified the question You can begin to collect the necessary data sets from internal and external sources. They can be as organized or unstructured as you’d like, but generally, they contain both quantitative and qualitative data. It’s important that you understand that data collection and analysis are both iterative processes, meaning you’ll likely return to collect additional information to reconsider your original question and any assumptions you’ve made throughout the process.
In this stage you will be using various analytical tools and techniques to manipulate the data https://apcslonline.com/2023/06/09/what-is-data-analysis/ and find patterns of trends, outliers, or variations that tell an interesting story. Data visualization software, for instance to transform the data into a visual format that is easy to understand. You may also perform diagnostic or predictive analyses to anticipate future outcomes or events.
Next, you will need to present and interpret your results. This section should contain an explanation of the statistical methods employed along with any sensitivity or toughness testing performed, and the results themselves. If you have used figures or tables make sure you label them clearly and include clear captions.