Course 1: Week 2 and week 3

What is a Database?

A collection of data stored in a computer system.

What is Query Language?

A computer programming language that allows you to retrieve and manipulate data from a database.

What does Correlation mean?

A correlation is like a relationship.

What is a function?

A present command that automatically performs a specific process or task using the data in a spreadsheet. Or just think of a function as a simpler, more efficient way of doing something that would normally take a lot of time. In other words, functions can help make you more efficient.

What is a Quartile?

A quartile divides data points into four equal parts or quarters. When the data is pretty general and you want to learn more, you can dig deeper and split the data into quartiles.

What is a Formula?

A set of instructions that performs specific calculation using the data in a spreadsheet. Formulas can do basic things like add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Also can find the average of a number set.

What is a Spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet is a digital worksheet. It stores, organizes, and sorts data.

To record your data in a table, you need to understand how a table is structured

A table consists of rows and columns Each row is a different observation Each column is a different attribute of that observation

What is the Data Analysis Process?

ASK: Define the problem and confirm stakeholders expectations. What is the problem that we're trying to solve? What is the Purpose of this analysis? What are we hoping to learn from it? What does a successful result look like? PREPARE: Collect and store data for analysis. We need to be thinking about what type of data we need to answer those key questions. We also need to be thinking about how we're going to collect that data or if we need to collect that data. PROCESS: Clean and transform data to ensure integrity. It begins with cleaning. We can think of it as the initial introduction or the handshake, hello to your data. This is where you get a chance to understand it's structure, it's quirks, it's nuances, and you really get a chance to understand deeply what type of data you're going to be working with and understanding what potential that data has to answer all of your questions. This is such an important part, too, where we're running through all of our quality assurance checks. Do we have all of the data that we anticipated we would have? Are we missing data at random or is it missing in a systematic way such that maybe something went wrong with our data collection effort? If needed, did we code all of our data the right way? After cleaning our data and running all of our quality assurance checks, now is the point where we analyze our data, making sure to do so in as objective and unbiased way as possible. ANALYZE: Use data analysis tools to draw conclusions. To do this, the first thing we do is run through a series of analyses that we've already planned ahead of time based on the questions that we know we want to answer from the very, very beginning of the process. SHARE: Interpret and communicate results to others to make data driven decisions. ACT: Put your insights to work in order to solve the original problem.

What is Analytical Skills?

Analytical skills are qualities and characteristics associated with solving problems using facts.

What is Archive in the Data Life Cycle?

Archiving means storing data in a place where it's still available, but may not be used again.

The "Five Whys" are extremely helpful in which phase of the Analysis?

Ask phase

What are the phases of the Data Analysis Process?

Ask, Prepare, Process, Analyze, Share, and Act.

What does Big Picture thinking mean?

Big picture thinking means being able to see the big picture as well as the details.

Why do business conduct Gap Analysis?

Business conduct Gap Analysis to do all kinds of things, such as improve a product or become more efficient.

Do you need to communicate with your stakeholders throughout your analysis project?

Communicating with stakeholders is key in making sure you stay engaged and on track throughout the project.

What are the five key skills for Analytical Skills?

Curiosity Understanding Context Having a Technical Mindset Data Design Data Strategy

What are the five skill sets to Analytical Skills?

Curiosity: Curiosity is all about wanting to learn something. Curious people usually seek out new challenges and experiences. This leads to knowledge. Understanding Context: Context is the condition in which something exists or happens. This can be a structure or an environment. Technical Mindset: A technical mindset involves the ability to break things down into smaller steps or pieces and work with them in an orderly and logical way. Data Design: How you organize information. Data Strategy: Data strategy is the management of the people, processes, and tools used in data analysis.

What does problem orientation mean?

Data analysts use a problem orientation approach in order to identify, describe, and solve problems. The key for problem orientation is to remember what the problem is or what you're trying to achieve throughout the process.

What are some useful features that Spreadsheets offer?

Formulas and Functions.

What is Gap Analysis?

Gap Analysis let's you examine and evaluate how a process works currently in order to get where you want it be in the future.

What are some examples of Data Visualization?

Graphs, Maps, and Tables.

What is Manage in the Data Life Cycle?

Here we're talking about how we care for our data. How and where it's stored, the tools used to keep it safe and secure, and the actions taken to make sure safe that it's maintained properly.

Data Analysis isn't a life cycle. It's the process of analyzing data. (True or False)

True

Does Data Driven decision making gives you greater confidence about your choice and abilities to address business challenges. ( True or False)

True

If you make decisions that are informed by data, you are more likely to make informed and effective decisions. (True or False)

True

When you maintain a database of customer information, ensuring data integrity, credibility, and privacy are all important concerns. ( True or False)

True

What is Data Driven Decision making?

Using facts to guide business strategy. In business, data driven decision making can improve the results in a lot of different ways.

What are the five key aspects to Analytical thinking?

Visualization Strategy Problem Orientation Correlation Big Picture & Detailed Oriented Thinking

Why is Visualization important?

Visualization is important because visuals can help data analysts understand and explain information more effectively.

What is Visualization?

Visualization is the graphical representation of information. Examples include Graphs, Maps, or other design elements.

Why is it Important to think in different ways?

Well because in data analysis, solutions are almost never right in front of you. You need to think critically to find out the right questions to ask. You also need to think creatively to get new and unexpected answers.

How do Data Analysts bring data to life?

Well, it starts with the right data analysis tool. These include spreadsheets, databases, query languages, and visualization software.

What is the third question that Data Analyst ask?

What did we not consider before? This is a great way to think about what information or procedure might be missing from a process, so you can identify ways to make better decisions and strategies moving forward.

What is the first question that Data Analysts usually ask at the beginning?

What is the root cause of a problem? If we can identify and get rid of a root cause, we can prevent that problem from happening again. A simple way to wrap your head around root cause is with the process called the "Five Whys". In the Five why's you ask "Why" five times to reveal the root cause. The fifth and final answer should give you some useful and sometimes surprising insights.

What is the second question that Data Analysts ask?

Where are the gaps in our process? For this, many people will use something called Gap Analysis.

What happens when you put your data in a Spreadsheet?

You can see patterns, group information, and easily find information you need.

What is Analytical thinking?

Identifying and defining a problem and then solving it by using data in an organized, step by step manner.

Visualization is a Data Analysts best friend in which phase of Analysis?

In the Share phase. With the right visuals, facts and figures become so much easier to see and complex concepts become easier to understand.

What is Analyze in the Data Life Cycle?

In this phase, the data is used to solve problems, make great decisions, and support business goals.

What does Data Driven Decision making help with?

It helps you become more proactive when an opportunity presents itself, and it saves you time and effort when working towards a goal.

Why is SQL the most widely used structured query language?

It's easy to understand and works very well with all kinds of databases. With SQL, Data Analysts can access the data they need by making a query. You can ask it to do a lot of things like insert, delete, select, or update data.

Why does Data Analysts like using Looker?

Looker is also popular with data analysts because it gives them an easy way to create visuals based on the results of a query.

Which phase of the Data Life Cycle is very important to Data Cleansing?

Manage

What are the two most popular spreadsheet solutions?

Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets

What is Nonprofits?

Nonprofits are organizations dedicated to advancing a social cause or advocating for a particular effort.

What is one common method for getting data?

One common method is getting data from outside resources. Another way to get data is from a company's own documents and files, which are usually stored inside a database.

What are the phases of the Data Life Cycle?

Plan, Capture, Manage, Analyze, Archive, and Destroy.

What are the phases of the data life cycle?

Plan, Capture, Manage, Analyze, Archive, and Destroy.

What are the stages of the Data Life Cycle?

Plan, Capture, Manage, Analyze, Archive, and Destroy.

What is R?

R is a popular tool for data manipulation, calculation, and visualization.

What is SQL?

SQL is a language that lets data analysts communicate with a database.

What are some tools that Data Analyst use?

Spreadsheets Query Languages Visualization Tools

What are some powerful tools Data Analysis use?

Spreadsheets and Structured Query Language or SQL.

What are some powerful tools data analysts use?

Spreadsheets, Structured Query Languages, and Visualization tools.

Who are Stakeholders?

Stakeholders are people who hold stake in a project. They are people who have invested time and resources into a project and are interested in the outcome. You always want to determine who youre stakeholders are. That may include your manager, an executive sponsor, or your sales partners. There can be lots of stakeholders.

What does Strategizing help data analysts do?

Strategizing help data analysts see what they want to achieve with the data and how they can get there. Strategy also helps improve the quality and usefulness of the data that is being collected.

What does Strategy mean?

Strategy means a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.

What are some popular Visualization Tools?

Tableau and Looker.

Why does Data Analysts like using Tableau?

Tableau helps create visuals that are very easy to understand. This means that even nontechnical users can get the information they need.

What is Understanding Context?

The analytical skill that has to do with how you group things into categories.

What is Data Design?

The analytical skill that involves how you organize information.

What is Data Strategy?

The analytical skill that involves managing the processes and tools used in data analysis.

What is a Technical Mindset?

The analytical skills that involves breaking down processes down into smaller steps and working with them in an orderly, logical way.

What is Data Visualization?

The graphical representation of information.

What is the Data Analysis Life Cycle?

The process of going from data to decision. Data goes through several phases as it gets created, consumed, tested, processed, and reused.

What is the Data Life Cycle?

The process of going from data to decision. Data goes through several phases as it gets created, consumed, tested, processed, and reused.

What is Data Analytics Skills?

The qualities and characteristics associated with solving problems using facts.

What is something that all stakeholders have in common?

They help make decisions, influence actions, and strategies, and have specific goals they want to meet. They also care about the project and that's why it's so important to understand their expectations.

What is the Plan phase of the Data Life Cycle?

This actually happens well before starting an analysis project. During planning, a business decides on what kind of data is needed, how it will be managed through its life cycle, who is responsible for it, and the optimal outcomes. Planning helps setup the rest of the project.

Why are Spreadsheets important?

This is important because the usefulness of your data depends on how well it's structured.

What is Destroy in the Data Life Cycle?

This is important for protecting a company's private information, as well as private data about its customers.

What is Capture in the Data Life Cycle?

This is where data is collected from a variety of different sources and brought into the organization.

How do companies destroy data?

To destroy it, the company would use a secure data erasure software. If there were any paper files, they would be shredded too.