What is Data Analytics? - Master's in Data Science

Data analytics helps individuals and organizations make sense of data. Data analysts typically analyze raw data for insights and trends. They use various tools ... Home/Learning/WhatisDataAnalytics? LearningReasonstoLearnDataScienceOnline ProgrammingLanguages LearnC LearnGit LearnJava LearnJavascript LearnjQuery LearnReact.js LearnD3 LearnMySQL LearnPHP DataScientistSkills Hadoop Python R SQL Tableau SoftSkills HardSkills ComputerSciencevs.ComputerEngineering CyberSecurityvs.ComputerScience DataAnalyticsvs.BusinessAnalytics DataSciencevs.MachineLearning DataSciencevs.ComputerScience DataSciencevs.Statistics DifferenceBetweenBiasandVariance DifferenceBetweenUXandUI HowtoDealwithMissingData StatisticsConceptsforDataScientists ARIMAModeling ProbabilityTheory Undersampling MachineLearningAlgorithms AutomatedMachineLearning Bootstrapping DecisionTree GradientDescent LinearRegression LogisticRegression WhatisDataAnalytics? ExploratoryDataAnalysis WhatisaDatabase? WhatisBusinessAnalytics? WhatisAI? NeuralNetwork WhatisComputerEngineering? WhatisanInformationSystem? WhatisComputerScience? WhatisCyberSecurity? WhatisDigitalMarketing? WhatisFinTech? WhatisDataVisualization? WaystoImproveDataVisualization WhatisDataStructure? HowtoResearchFinancialAidforSTEM WhatisDataAnalytics? Astheprocessofanalyzingrawdatatofindtrendsandanswerquestions,thedefinitionofdataanalyticscapturesitsbroadscopeofthefield.However,itincludesmanytechniqueswithmanydifferentgoals. Thedataanalyticsprocesshassomecomponentsthatcanhelpavarietyofinitiatives.Bycombiningthesecomponents,asuccessfuldataanalyticsinitiativewillprovideaclearpictureofwhereyouare,whereyouhavebeenandwhereyoushouldgo. SPONSOREDSCHOOLS UniversityofDayton info MasterofBusinessAnalytics Gainin-demandanalyticsskillswithanonlinemaster’sinbusinessanalytics.Completeinasfewas12months. Completeinasfewas12months GRE/GMATnotrequired RequestmoreinfofromtheUniversityofDayton. AmericanUniversity info MasterofScienceinAnalytics AmericanUniversity’sonlineMSinAnalyticsprogrampreparesstudentstoapplydataanalysisskillstoreal-worldbusinesspractices.Theprogramcanbecompletedin12months.NoGMAT/GRErequired.  NoGMATorGREscoresrequiredtoapply AACSBaccredited Completeinasfewas12months RequestmoreinfofromAmericanUniversity. infoSPONSORED Generally,thisprocessbeginswith descriptiveanalytics.Thisistheprocessofdescribinghistoricaltrendsindata.Descriptiveanalyticsaimstoanswerthequestion“whathappened?”Thisofteninvolvesmeasuringtraditionalindicatorssuchasreturnoninvestment(ROI).Theindicatorsusedwillbedifferentforeachindustry.Descriptiveanalyticsdoesnotmakepredictionsordirectlyinformdecisions.Itfocusesonsummarizingdatainameaningfulanddescriptiveway.Thenextessentialpartofdataanalyticsis advancedanalytics.Thispartofdatasciencetakesadvantageofadvancedtoolstoextractdata,makepredictionsanddiscovertrends.Thesetoolsincludeclassicalstatisticsaswellasmachinelearning.Machinelearningtechnologiessuchasneuralnetworks,naturallanguageprocessing,sentimentanalysisandmoreenableadvancedanalytics.Thisinformationprovidesnewinsightfromdata.Advancedanalyticsaddresses“whatif?”questions.Theavailabilityofmachinelearningtechniques,massivedatasets,andcheapcomputingpowerhasenabledtheuseofthesetechniquesinmanyindustries.Thecollectionofbigdatasetsisinstrumentalinenablingthesetechniques.Bigdataanalyticsenablesbusinessestodrawmeaningfulconclusionsfromcomplexandvarieddatasources,whichhasbeenmadepossiblebyadvancesinparallelprocessingandcheapcomputationalpower. TypesofDataAnalytics Dataanalyticsisabroadfield.Therearefourprimarytypesofdataanalytics:descriptive,diagnostic,predictiveandprescriptiveanalytics.Eachtypehasadifferentgoalandadifferentplaceinthedataanalysisprocess.Thesearealsotheprimarydataanalyticsapplicationsinbusiness. Descriptiveanalyticshelpsanswerquestionsaboutwhathappened.Thesetechniquessummarizelargedatasetstodescribeoutcomestostakeholders.Bydevelopingkeyperformanceindicators(KPIs,)thesestrategiescanhelptracksuccessesorfailures.Metricssuchasreturnoninvestment(ROI)areusedinmanyindustries.Specializedmetricsaredevelopedtotrackperformanceinspecificindustries.Thisprocessrequiresthecollectionofrelevantdata,processingofthedata,dataanalysisanddatavisualization.Thisprocessprovidesessentialinsightintopastperformance.Diagnosticanalyticshelpsanswerquestionsaboutwhythingshappened.Thesetechniquessupplementmorebasicdescriptiveanalytics.Theytakethefindingsfromdescriptiveanalyticsanddigdeepertofindthecause.Theperformanceindicatorsarefurtherinvestigatedtodiscoverwhytheygotbetterorworse.Thisgenerallyoccursinthreesteps:Identifyanomaliesinthedata.Thesemaybeunexpectedchangesinametricoraparticularmarket.Datathatisrelatedtotheseanomaliesiscollected.Statisticaltechniquesareusedtofindrelationshipsandtrendsthatexplaintheseanomalies. Predictiveanalyticshelpsanswerquestionsaboutwhatwillhappeninthefuture.Thesetechniquesusehistoricaldatatoidentifytrendsanddetermineiftheyarelikelytorecur.Predictiveanalyticaltoolsprovidevaluableinsightintowhatmayhappeninthefutureanditstechniquesincludeavarietyofstatisticalandmachinelearningtechniques,suchas:neuralnetworks,decisiontrees,andregression.Prescriptiveanalyticshelpsanswerquestionsaboutwhatshouldbedone.Byusinginsightsfrompredictiveanalytics,data-drivendecisionscanbemade.Thisallowsbusinessestomakeinformeddecisionsinthefaceofuncertainty.Prescriptiveanalyticstechniquesrelyonmachinelearningstrategiesthatcanfindpatternsinlargedatasets.Byanalyzingpastdecisionsandevents,thelikelihoodofdifferentoutcomescanbeestimated. Thesetypesofdataanalyticsprovidetheinsightthatbusinessesneedtomakeeffectiveandefficientdecisions.Usedincombinationtheyprovideawell-roundedunderstandingofacompany’sneedsandopportunities. WhatistheRoleofDataAnalytics? Dataanalysts existattheintersectionofinformationtechnology,statisticsandbusiness.Theycombinethesefieldsinordertohelpbusinessesandorganizationssucceed.Theprimarygoalofadataanalystistoincreaseefficiencyandimproveperformancebydiscoveringpatternsindata. Thinkingaboutagraduatedegreeindataanalytics?Startwithasponsoredonlineanalyticsprogram: UniversityofDayton info MasterofBusinessAnalytics Gainin-demandanalyticsskillswithanonlinemaster’sinbusinessanalytics.Completeinasfewas12months. Completeinasfewas12months GRE/GMATnotrequired RequestmoreinfofromtheUniversityofDayton. AmericanUniversity info MasterofScienceinAnalytics AmericanUniversity’sonlineMSinAnalyticsprogrampreparesstudentstoapplydataanalysisskillstoreal-worldbusinesspractices.Theprogramcanbecompletedin12months.NoGMAT/GRErequired.  NoGMATorGREscoresrequiredtoapply AACSBaccredited Completeinasfewas12months RequestmoreinfofromAmericanUniversity. infoSPONSORED Theworkofadataanalystinvolvesworkingwithdatathroughoutthedataanalysispipeline.Thismeansworkingwithdatainvariousways.Theprimarystepsinthedataanalyticsprocessaredatamining,datamanagement,statisticalanalysis,anddatapresentation.Theimportanceandbalanceofthesestepsdependonthedatabeingusedandthegoaloftheanalysis. Dataminingisanessentialprocessformanydataanalyticstasks.Thisinvolvesextractingdatafromunstructureddatasources.Thesemayincludewrittentext,largecomplexdatabases,orrawsensordata.Thekeystepsinthisprocessaretoextract,transform,andloaddata(oftencalledETL.)Thesestepsconvertrawdataintoausefulandmanageableformat.Thispreparesdataforstorageandanalysis.Dataminingisgenerallythemosttime-intensivestepinthedataanalysispipeline. Datamanagementordatawarehousingisanotherkeyaspectofadataanalyst’sjob.Datawarehousinginvolvesdesigningandimplementingdatabasesthatalloweasyaccesstotheresultsofdatamining.ThisstepgenerallyinvolvescreatingandmanagingSQLdatabases. Non-relationalandNoSQLdatabases arebecomingmorecommonaswell. Statisticalanalysisallowsanalyststocreateinsightsfromdata.Bothstatisticsandmachinelearningtechniquesareusedtoanalyzedata.Bigdataisusedtocreatestatisticalmodelsthatrevealtrendsindata.Thesemodelscanthenbeappliedtonewdatatomakepredictionsandinformdecisionmaking.StatisticalprogramminglanguagessuchasRorPython(withpandas)areessentialtothisprocess.Inaddition,opensourcelibrariesandpackagessuchasTensorFlowenableadvancedanalysis. Thefinalstepinmostdataanalyticsprocessesisdatapresentation.Thisstepallowsinsightstobesharedwithstakeholders.Datavisualizationisoftenthemostimportanttoolindatapresentation.Compellingvisualizationscanhelptellthestoryinthedatawhichmayhelpexecutivesandmanagersunderstandtheimportanceoftheseinsights. WhyDataAnalyticsisImportant? Theapplicationsofdataanalyticsarebroad.Analyzingbigdatacanoptimizeefficiencyinmanydifferentindustries.Improvingperformanceenablesbusinessestosucceedinanincreasinglycompetitiveworld. Oneoftheearliestadoptersisthe financialsector.Dataanalyticshasanimportantroleinthebankingandfinanceindustries,usedtopredictmarkettrendsandassessrisk.Creditscoresareanexampleofdataanalyticsthataffectseveryone.Thesescoresusemanydatapointstodeterminelendingrisk.Dataanalyticsisalsousedtodetectandpreventfraudtoimproveefficiencyandreduceriskforfinancialinstitutions. TheuseofdataanalyticsgoesbeyondmaximizingprofitsandROI,however.Dataanalyticscanprovidecriticalinformationforhealthcare(healthinformatics),crimeprevention,andenvironmentalprotection.Theseapplicationsofdataanalyticsusethesetechniquestoimproveourworld. Thoughstatisticsanddataanalysishavealwaysbeenusedinscientificresearch,advancedanalytictechniquesandbigdataallowformanynewinsights.Thesetechniquescanfindtrendsincomplexsystems.Researchersarecurrently usingmachinelearningtoprotectwildlife. Theuseof dataanalyticsinhealthcare isalreadywidespread.Predictingpatientoutcomes,efficientlyallocatingfundingandimprovingdiagnostictechniquesarejustafewexamplesofhowdataanalyticsisrevolutionizinghealthcare.Thepharmaceuticalindustryisalsobeingrevolutionizedbymachinelearning.Drugdiscoveryisacomplextaskwithmanyvariables.Machinelearningcangreatly improvedrugdiscovery.Pharmaceuticalcompaniesalsousedataanalyticstounderstandthemarketfordrugsandpredicttheirsales. Theinternetofthings(IoT)isafieldthatisusedalongsidemachinelearning.Thesedevicesprovideagreatopportunityfordataanalytics.IoTdevicesoftencontainmanysensorsthatcollectmeaningfuldatapointsfortheiroperation.DevicesliketheNestthermostattrackmovementandtemperaturetoregulateheatingandcooling.Smartdeviceslikethiscanusedatatolearnfromand predictyourbehavior.Thiswillprovideadvancehomeautomationthatcanadapttothewayyoulive. Theapplicationsofdataanalyticsareseeminglyendless.Moreandmoredataisbeingcollectedeveryday—thispresentsnewopportunitiestoapplydataanalyticstomorepartsofbusiness,scienceandeverydaylife. Ifyouareinterestedindataanalyticsandconsideringgainingadegree,youmaycheckandcompareourlistsofonlinemaster’sindatascienceoronlinemaster’sinbusinessanalytics. DataAnalyticsFAQ Whatistheroleofdataanalytics?Dataanalyticshelpsindividualsandorganizationsmakesenseofdata. Dataanalysts typicallyanalyzerawdataforinsightsandtrends.Theyusevarioustoolsandtechniquestohelporganizationsmakedecisionsandsucceed.Whatarethetypesofdataanalytics?Therearevarioustypesofdataanalysisincludingdescriptive,diagnostic,prescriptiveandpredictiveanalytics.Eachtypeisusedforspecificpurposesdependingonthequestionadataanalystistryingtoanswer.Forexample,adataanalystwouldusediagnosticanalyticstofigureoutwhysomethinghappened.Whataretheanalyticaltoolsusedindataanalytics?Therearevarioustoolsusedindataanalysis.Somedataanalystsusebusinessintelligencesoftware,suchas Tableau.Othersmayuseprogramminglanguagessuchas SQL or Python,whichhavevariousstatisticalandvisualizationlibraries.Whatisthecareergrowthindataanalytics?AccordingtoO*NET,the projectedgrowthfordataanalystsis15% between2020-2030.Onaverage,dataanalystsearned$98,230in2020.However, salarycompensationfordataanalysts variesdependingonwheretheyworkandwhatindustrytheyworkin. Lastupdated:April2022