What is Data Analytics?
Data Analytics is the process of collecting, organizing and studying data to
find useful information understand what’s happening and make better
decisions. In simple words it helps people and businesses learn from data
like what worked in the past, what is happening now and what might happen
in the future.
People often mix up data analytics and data analysis but they’re not
exactly the same. Data analysis is just one part of data analytics it
focuses on finding meaning in data. On the other hand data analytics
includes more than just analysis. It also involves things like coming up
with ideas and predictions from data and building the tools and
systems needed to handle large amounts of data.
Importance and Usage of Data Analytics
Data analytics is used in many fields like banking, farming, shopping,
government and more. It helps in many ways:
Data Analytics Importance
Helps in Decision Making: It gives clear facts and patterns from data
which help people make smarter choices.
Helps in Problem Solving: It points out what's going wrong and why
making it easier to fix problems.
Helps Identify Opportunities: It shows trends and new chances for
growth that might not be obvious.
Improved Efficiency: It helps reduce waste, saves time and makes
work smoother by finding better ways to do things.
Process of Data Analytics
Data analysts, data scientists and data engineers together create data
pipelines which helps to set up the model and do further analysis. Data
Analytics can be done in the following steps which are mentioned below:
Data Analytics Process
1. Data Collection : Data collection is the first step where raw
information is gathered from different places like websites, apps,
surveys or machines. Sometimes data comes from many sources and
needs to be joined together. Other times only a small useful part of the
data is selected.
2. Data Cleansing : Once the data is collected it usually contains
mistakes like wrong entries, missing values or repeated rows. In this
step the data is cleaned to fix those problems and remove anything
that isn’t needed. Clean data makes the results more accurate and
trustworthy.
3. Data Analysis and Data Interpretation: After cleaning the data is
studied using tools like Excel, Python, R or SQL. Analysts look for
patterns, trends or useful information that can help solve problems or
answer questions. The goal here is to understand what the data is
telling us.
4. Data Visualization: Data visualization is the process of creating
visual representation of data using the plots, charts and graphs which
helps to analyze the patterns, trends and get the valuable insights of
the data. By comparing the datasets and analyzing it data analysts find
the useful data from the raw data.
Types of Data Analytics
There are different types of data analysis in which raw data is converted into
valuable insights. Some of the types of data analysis are mentioned below:
Types of Data Analytics
1. Descriptive Data Analytics : Descriptive data analytics helps to
summarize and understand past data. It shows what has happened by
using tables, charts and averages. Companies use it to compare
results, find strengths and weaknesses and spot any unusual patterns.
2. Diagnostic Data Analytics: Diagnostic data analytics looks at why
something happened in the past. It uses tools like correlation,
regression or comparison to find the cause of a problem. This helps
companies understand the reason behind a drop in sales or a sudden
change in performance.
3. Predictive Data Analytics: Predictive data analytics is used to guess
what might happen in the future. It looks at current and past data to
find patterns and make forecasts. Businesses use it to predict things
like customer behavior, future sales or possible risks.
4. Prescriptive Data Analytics: Prescriptive data analytics helps to
choose the best action or solution. It looks at different options and
suggests what should be done next. Companies use it for things like
loan approval, pricing decisions and managing machines or schedules.
Methods of Data Analytics
There are two types of methods in data analytics which are mentioned
below:
1. Qualitative Data Analytics
Qualitative data analysis doesn’t use statistics and derives data from the
words, pictures and symbols. Some common qualitative methods are:
Narrative Analytics is used for working with data acquired from diaries,
interviews and so on.
Content Analytics is used for Analytics of verbal data and behaviour.
Grounded theory is used to explain some given event by studying.
2. Quantitative Data Analysis
Quantitative data Analytics is used to collect data and then process it into
the numerical data. Some of the quantitative methods are mentioned below:
Hypothesis testing assesses the given hypothesis of the data set.
Sample size determination is the method of taking a small sample from
a large group of people and then analysing it.
Average or mean of a subject is dividing the sum total numbers in the
list by the number of items present in that list.
Skills Required for Data Analytics
There are multiple skills which are required to be a Data analyst. Some of the
main skills are mentioned below:
Some of the common programming languages which are used
are R and Python.
For databases Structured Query Language (SQL) is a programming
language used.
Machine Learning is used in data analysis.
In order to better analyse and interpret probability and statistics are
used.
For collecting and organising data, Data Management is used in data
analysis.
To use charts and graphs Data visualisation is used.
Data analytics helps businesses grow by turning raw data into useful
insights. It supports smarter decisions, better planning and improve
customer service across many industries not just finance. From retail to
government data analytics plays a key role in today’s world by helping
organizations find patterns, solve problems and plan for the future.
