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What Is EDA

What is EDA

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19 views2 pages

What Is EDA

What is EDA

Uploaded by

zedbaladraf
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1.1.1. What is EDA? http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section1/eda11.

htm

1. Exploratory Data Analysis


1.1. EDA Introduction

Approach Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) is an approach/philosophy


for data analysis that employs a variety of techniques (mostly
graphical) to

1. maximize insight into a data set;


2. uncover underlying structure;
3. extract important variables;
4. detect outliers and anomalies;
5. test underlying assumptions;
6. develop parsimonious models; and
7. determine optimal factor settings.

Focus The EDA approach is precisely that--an approach--not a set of


techniques, but an attitude/philosophy about how a data
analysis should be carried out.

Philosophy EDA is not identical to statistical graphics although the two


terms are used almost interchangeably. Statistical graphics is a
collection of techniques--all graphically based and all focusing
on one data characterization aspect. EDA encompasses a larger
venue; EDA is an approach to data analysis that postpones the
usual assumptions about what kind of model the data follow
with the more direct approach of allowing the data itself to
reveal its underlying structure and model. EDA is not a mere
collection of techniques; EDA is a philosophy as to how we
dissect a data set; what we look for; how we look; and how we
interpret. It is true that EDA heavily uses the collection of
techniques that we call "statistical graphics", but it is not
identical to statistical graphics per se.

History The seminal work in EDA is Exploratory Data Analysis,


Tukey, (1977). Over the years it has benefitted from other
noteworthy publications such as Data Analysis and Regression,
Mosteller and Tukey (1977), Interactive Data Analysis,
Hoaglin (1977), The ABC's of EDA, Velleman and Hoaglin
(1981) and has gained a large following as "the" way to

1 of 2 19/05/2017, 13:42
1.1.1. What is EDA? http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section1/eda11.htm

analyze a data set.

Techniques Most EDA techniques are graphical in nature with a few


quantitative techniques. The reason for the heavy reliance on
graphics is that by its very nature the main role of EDA is to
open-mindedly explore, and graphics gives the analysts
unparalleled power to do so, enticing the data to reveal its
structural secrets, and being always ready to gain some new,
often unsuspected, insight into the data. In combination with
the natural pattern-recognition capabilities that we all possess,
graphics provides, of course, unparalleled power to carry this
out.

The particular graphical techniques employed in EDA are often


quite simple, consisting of various techniques of:

1. Plotting the raw data (such as data traces, histograms,


bihistograms, probability plots, lag plots, block plots,
and Youden plots.

2. Plotting simple statistics such as mean plots, standard


deviation plots, box plots, and main effects plots of the
raw data.

3. Positioning such plots so as to maximize our natural


pattern-recognition abilities, such as using multiple plots
per page.

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