Learn about the process through the program:

1. Learn more about the Ask phase of the process in the Ask Questions to Make Data-
Driven Decisions course.
2. Learn more about the Prepare phase of the process in the Prepare Data for
Exploration course.
3. Learn more about the Process phase of the process in the Process Data from Dirty to
Clean course.
4. Learn more about the Analyze phase of the process in the Analyze Data to Answer
Questions and Data Analysis with R Programming courses.
5. Learn more about the Share phase of the process in the Share Data Through the Art of
Visualization and Data Analysis with R Programming courses.
6. Learn more about the Act phase of the process in the Google Data Analytics
Capstone: Complete a Case Study course.
Note: The course links are for you to preview and not complete the courses at this time. You
may mark this activity as complete after you understand how the courses align to the data
analysis process.

Review the phases of data

So far you’ve learned about the data analysis process and the data life cycle. They include
the following steps:

Data Analysis Process:

 Ask
 Prepare
 Process
 Analyze
 Share
 Act
Data Life Cycle:
 Plan
 Capture
 Manage
 Analyze
 Archive
 Destroy
For a refresher on the phases of data, you can review the reading on the data analysis
process and the video on the data life cycle.

Step 1: Ask
It’s impossible to solve a problem if you don’t know what it is. These are some things to
consider:

 Define the problem you’re trying to solve

 Make sure you fully understand the stakeholder’s expectations
 Focus on the actual problem and avoid any distractions
 Collaborate with stakeholders and keep an open line of communication
 Take a step back and see the whole situation in context
Questions to ask yourself in this step:
1. What are my stakeholders saying their problems are?
2. Now that I’ve identified the issues, how can I help the stakeholders resolve their
questions?

Step 2: Prepare
You will decide what data you need to collect in order to answer your questions and how to
organize it so that it is useful. You might use your business task to decide:
  What metrics to measure
 Locate data in your database
 Create security measures to protect that data
Questions to ask yourself in this step:
1. What do I need to figure out how to solve this problem?
2. What research do I need to do?

Step 3: Process
Clean data is the best data and you will need to clean up your data to get rid of any possible
errors, inaccuracies, or inconsistencies. This might mean:

 Using spreadsheet functions to find incorrectly entered data

 Using SQL functions to check for extra spaces
 Removing repeated entries
 Checking as much as possible for bias in the data
Questions to ask yourself in this step:
1. What data errors or inaccuracies might get in my way of getting the best possible
answer to the problem I am trying to solve?
2. How can I clean my data so the information I have is more consistent?

Step 4: Analyze
You will want to think analytically about your data. At this stage, you might sort and format
your data to make it easier to:

 Perform calculations
 Combine data from multiple sources
 Create tables with your results
Questions to ask yourself in this step:
1. What story is my data telling me?
2. How will my data help me solve this problem?
3. Who needs my company’s product or service? What type of person is most likely to
use it?
Step 5: Share
Everyone shares their results differently so be sure to summarize your results with clear and
enticing visuals of your analysis using data via tools like graphs or dashboards. This is your
chance to show the stakeholders you have solved their problem and how you got there.
Sharing will certainly help your team:

 Make better decisions

 Make more informed decisions
 Lead to stronger outcomes
 Successfully communicate your findings
Questions to ask yourself in this step:
1. How can I make what I present to the stakeholders engaging and easy to understand?
2. What would help me understand this if I were the listener?

Step 6: Act
Now it’s time to act on your data. You will take everything you have learned from your data
analysis and put it to use. This could mean providing your stakeholders with
recommendations based on your findings so they can make data-driven decisions.

Questions to ask yourself in this step:

1. How can I use the feedback I received during the share phase (step 5) to actually meet
the stakeholder’s needs and expectations?
These six steps can help you to break the data analysis process into smaller, manageable parts,
which is called structured thinking. This process involves four basic activities:

1. Recognizing the current problem or situation

2. Organizing available information
3. Revealing gaps and opportunities
4. Identifying your options
When you are starting out in your career as a data analyst, it is normal to feel pulled in a few
different directions with your role and expectations. Following processes like the ones
outlined here and using structured thinking skills can help get you back on track, fill in
any gaps and let you know exactly what you need.

Six problem types

Making predictions
A company that wants to know the best advertising method to bring in new customers is an
example of a problem requiring analysts to make predictions. Analysts with data on location,
type of media, and number of new customers acquired as a result of past ads can't guarantee
future results, but they can help predict the best placement of advertising to reach the target
audience.

Categorizing things
An example of a problem requiring analysts to categorize things is a company's goal to
improve customer satisfaction. Analysts might classify customer service calls based on certain
keywords or scores. This could help identify top-performing customer service representatives
or help correlate certain actions taken with higher customer satisfaction scores.

Spotting something unusual

A company that sells smart watches that help people monitor their health would be interested
in designing their software to spot something unusual. Analysts who have analyzed
aggregated health data can help product developers determine the right algorithms to spot and
set off alarms when certain data doesn't trend normally.

Identifying themes
User experience (UX) designers might rely on analysts to analyze user interaction data.
Similar to problems that require analysts to categorize things, usability improvement projects
might require analysts to identify themes to help prioritize the right product features for
improvement. Themes are most often used to help researchers explore certain aspects of data.
In a user study, user beliefs, practices, and needs are examples of themes.

By now you might be wondering if there is a difference between categorizing things and
identifying themes. The best way to think about it is: categorizing things involves assigning
items to categories; identifying themes takes those categories a step further by grouping them
into broader themes.

Discovering connections
A third-party logistics company working with another company to get shipments delivered to
customers on time is a problem requiring analysts to discover connections. By analyzing the
wait times at shipping hubs, analysts can determine the appropriate schedule changes to
increase the number of on-time deliveries.

Finding patterns
Minimizing downtime caused by machine failure is an example of a problem requiring
analysts to find patterns in data. For example, by analyzing maintenance data, they might
discover that most failures happen if regular maintenance is delayed by more than a 15-day
window.
Highly effective questions are SMART questions:

The following table summarizes the benefits of using a dashboard for both data analysts and
their stakeholders.

Benefits For Data Analysts For Stakeholders

Sharing a single source of data with all Working with a comprehensive view of
Centralization
stakeholders initiatives, objectives, projects, processe
Showing and updating live, incoming data in real
Visualization Spotting changing trends and patterns m
time*
Pulling relevant information from different Understanding the story behind the num
Insightfulness
datasets track of goals and make data-driven dec
Creating custom views dedicated to a specific Drilling down to more specific areas of
Customization
person, project, or presentation of the data interest or concern
 * It is important to remember that changed data is pulled into dashboards automatically only
if the data structure is the same. If the data structure changes, you have to update the
dashboard design before the data can update live.

Data format examples

As with most things, it is easier for definitions to click when we can pair them with real life
examples. Review each definition first and then use the examples to lock in your
understanding of each data format.

the following table highlights the differences between primary and secondary data and examples
of each
Data Format
Definition Examples
Classification
Collected by a researcher - Data from an interview you conducted - Data from a survey returned fr
Primary data
from first-hand sources participants - Data from questionnaires you got back from a group of wo
Gathered by other people or - Data you bought from a local data analytics firm’s customer profiles -
Secondary data
from other research data collected by a university - Census data gathered by the federal gove
Data Format
Definition Examples
Classification
- Wages of employees across different business units tracked by HR -
Data that lives inside a
Internal data Sales data by store location - Product inventory levels across
company’s own systems
distribution centers
Data that lives outside of a - National average wages for the various positions throughout your
External data
company or organization organization - Credit reports for customers of an auto dealership
 the following table highlights the differences between internal and external data and examples of
each
Data Format
Definition Examples
Classification
Data that is measured and can - Height of kids in third grade classes (52.5 inches, 65.7 inches) -
Continuous data
have almost any numeric value Runtime markers in a video - Temperature
- Number of people who visit a hospital on a daily basis (10, 20,
Data that is counted and has a
Discrete data 200) - Room’s maximum capacity allowed - Tickets sold in the
limited number of values
current month

the following table highlights the differences between continuous and discrete data and examples
of each

the following table highlights the differences between qualitative and quantitative data and
examples of each
Data Format
Definition Examples
Classification
Subjective and explanatory measures - Exercise activity most enjoyed - Favorite brands of most
Qualitative
of qualities and characteristics loyal customers - Fashion preferences of young adults
- Percentage of board certified doctors who are women -
Specific and objective measures of
Quantitative Population of elephants in Africa - Distance from Earth to
numerical facts
Mars

the following table highlights the differences between nominal and ordinal data and examples of
each
Data Format
Definition Examples
Classification
A type of qualitative data that - First time customer, returning customer, regular customer - New job
Nominal isn’t categorized with a set applicant, existing applicant, internal applicant - New listing, reduced
order price listing, foreclosure
Ordinal A type of qualitative data with - Movie ratings (number of stars: 1 star, 2 stars, 3 stars) - Ranked-
Data Format
Definition Examples
Classification
choice voting selections (1st, 2nd, 3rd) - Income level (low income,
a set order or scale
middle income, high income)

the following table highlights the differences between structured and unstructured data and
examples of each
Data Format
Definition Examples
Classification
Data organized in a certain format, like rows and - Expense reports - Tax returns - Store
Structured data
columns inventory
Data that isn’t organized in any easily identifiable
Unstructured data - Social media posts - Emails - Videos
manner

Design thinking for visualization improvement

Design thinking for data visualization involves five phases:

1. Empathize: Thinking about the emotions and needs of the target audience for the data
visualization
2. Define: Figuring out exactly what your audience needs from the data
3. Ideate: Generating ideas for data visualization
4. Prototype: Putting visualizations together for testing and feedback
5. Test: Showing prototype visualizations to people before stakeholders see them