Data analysis steps by Google

Yogendra
6 min readMay 8, 2023

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Overview :
Data analytics is used in various industries, including healthcare, finance, marketing, retail, and manufacturing, to help organizations better understand their customers, optimize their operations, and improve their bottom line.

Data analytics :
Data analytics is the process of examining and analyzing data using various statistical and computational techniques to extract insights, patterns, and trends that can be used to make data-driven decisions.

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Data analytics process steps :

Step 1: Ask
It’s impossible to solve a problem if you don’t know what it is. These are some things to consider:
1. Define the problem you’re trying to solve
2. Make sure you fully understand the stakeholder’s expectations
3. Focus on the actual problem and avoid any distractions
4. Collaborate with stakeholders and keep an open line of communication
5. 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:
1. What metrics to measure
2. Locate data in your database
3. 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:
1. Using spreadsheet functions to find incorrectly entered data
2. Using SQL functions to check for extra spaces
3. Removing repeated entries
4. 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:
1. Perform calculations
2. . Combine data from multiple sources
3. 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 problems and how you got there.

Sharing will certainly help your team:
1. Make better decisions
2. Make more informed decisions
3. Lead to stronger outcomes
4. 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?
2. 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:
3. Recognizing the current problem or situation
4. Organizing available information
5. Revealing gaps and opportunities
6. Identifying your options
7. 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.

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Data analytics is important for several reasons:

  1. Better decision-making: Data analytics helps businesses and organizations make better decisions by providing insights into customer behavior, market trends, operational performance, and other critical areas. By analyzing data, businesses can make informed decisions that are based on data-driven insights rather than guesswork or intuition.

2. Improved efficiency: Data analytics can help organizations identify inefficiencies in their operations and processes. By analyzing data, businesses can identify areas where they can reduce costs, optimize resources, and improve productivity.

3. Competitive advantage: Data analytics can give businesses a competitive advantage by helping them identify trends and patterns that their competitors may not be aware of. By analyzing data, businesses can identify new opportunities, create innovative products and services, and gain insights into customer behavior.

4. Enhanced customer experience: Data analytics can help businesses better understand their customers by analyzing customer data, such as purchase history, behavior, and preferences. By understanding customer needs and preferences, businesses can create personalized experiences and tailor their products and services to meet customer needs.

5. Risk management: Data analytics can help businesses identify and manage risks by analyzing data related to financial performance, compliance, and other areas. By analyzing data, businesses can identify potential risks and take proactive steps to mitigate them.

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Conclusion:
Overall, data analytics is an essential tool for businesses and organizations looking to improve their performance, gain insights into their operations, and make informed decisions based on data-driven insights.

Thanks to :

https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/google-data-analytics

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Yogendra

Principle Software Engineer | Android Development | Sharing knowledge | Blogging | Keep Learning