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Data Analytics Helps Businesses Make Better Decisions

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13 views3 pages

Data Analytics Helps Businesses Make Better Decisions

Uploaded by

Loka P
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data analytics helps businesses make better decisions, but getting there is a process.

It begins with
analyzing a business problem, identifying data about that problem, and then using data analysis to
arrive at an answer. Sometimes you get an answer that solves your business problem, but it’s often
just as likely that you discover other questions to investigate further.

Businesses using data analytics have a common theme. They all have issues to explore, questions to
answer, or problems to solve.
- An **issue** is a topic or subject to investigate.
- A **question** is designed to discover information.
- A **problem** is an obstacle or complication that needs to be worked out.

These questions and problems become the foundation for all kinds of business tasks, that you'll help
solve as a data analyst. A **business task** is the question or problem data analysis answers for a
business. Data analytics helps businesses make better decisions. It all starts with a business task and
the question it's trying to answer.

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Data analysts have an important responsibility: making sure that their analyses are fair (ensuring that
analysis does not create or reinforce bias requires using processes and systems that are fair and
inclusive to everyone). **Fairness** means ensuring that your analysis doesn't create or reinforce
bias. It's important to think about fairness from the moment you start collecting data for a business
task to the time you present your conclusions to your stakeholders. Considering inclusive sample
populations, social context, and self-reported data enable fairness in data collection.

#### A case study:


1. To improve the effectiveness of its teaching staff, the administration of a high school offered the
opportunity for all teachers to participate in a workshop. They were not required to attend; instead, the
administration encouraged teachers to sign up. Of the 43 teachers on staff, 19 chose to take the
workshop. <br />
At the end of the academic year, the administration collected data on teacher performance for all
teachers on staff. The data was collected via student survey. In the survey, students were asked to rank
each teacher's effectiveness on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 6 (very good). <br />
The administration compared data on teachers who attended the workshop to data on teachers who did
not. The comparison revealed that teachers who attended the workshop had an average score of 4.95,
while teachers who did not attend had an average score of 4.22. The administration concluded that the
workshop was a success.
- This is an example of unfair practice. It is tempting to conclude—as the administration did—that the
workshop was a success. However, since the workshop was voluntary and not random, it is not
appropriate to infer a causal relationship between attending the workshop and the higher rating. <br />
The workshop might have been effective, but other explanations for the differences in the ratings
cannot be ruled out. For example, another explanation could be that the staff volunteering for the
workshop were the better, more motivated teachers. This group of teachers would be rated higher
whether or not the workshop was effective. <br />
It’s also notable that there is no direct connection between student survey responses and workshop
attendance. The data analyst could correct this by asking for the teachers to be selected randomly to
participate in the workshop. They could also collect data that measures something more directly
related to workshop attendance, such as the success of a technique the teachers learned in that
workshop.

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### Data analyst roles

The data analyst role is one of many job titles that contain the word “analyst.”

To name a few others that sound similar but may not be the same role:
- Business analyst — analyzes data to help businesses improve processes, products, or services
- Data analytics consultant — analyzes the systems and models for using data
- Data engineer — prepares and integrates data from different sources for analytical use
- Data scientist — uses expert skills in technology and social science to find trends through data
analysis
- Data specialist — organizes or converts data for use in databases or software systems
- Operations analyst — analyzes data to assess the performance of business operations and workflows

Data analysts, data scientists, and data specialists sound very similar but focus on different tasks.

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/74421758/146142038-cc67b16d-741c-4d91-
bc73-b55ab484de3b.png)

#### Job Specializations

The role of data specialist(concentrates on in-depth knowledge of databases) is one of many


specializations within data analytics. Other specialist roles for data analysts can focus on in-depth
knowledge of specific industries.
Other industry-specific specialist positions that you might come across in your data analyst job search
include:
- Marketing analyst — analyzes market conditions to assess the potential sales of products and
services
- HR/payroll analyst — analyzes payroll data for inefficiencies and errors
- Financial analyst — analyzes financial status by collecting, monitoring, and reviewing data
- Risk analyst — analyzes financial documents, economic conditions, and client data to help
companies determine the level of risk involved in making a particular business decision
- Healthcare analyst — analyzes medical data to improve the business aspect of hospitals and medical
facilities

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[Glossary](https://docs.google.com/document/d/
1kpvyM205cp_PmLz0tFOqusO9_wxGL_E0tDQNWwWhons/template/preview)

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