{"id":37924,"date":"2020-11-18T12:37:20","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T10:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/?p=37924"},"modified":"2023-08-11T10:46:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T08:46:45","slug":"the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps\/","title":{"rendered":"The Data Analysis Process in 6 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Data analysis has the ability to transform raw available data into meaningful insights for your business and your decision-making. It can be applied to almost any industry, and in a number of roles within those industries. While there are several different ways of collecting and interpreting this data, most data-analysis processes follow the same six general steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Discover the data analysis procedure outlined below:<\/p>\n\n\n<div>\n            <!-- Responsive picture tag -->\n        <picture class=\"picture-block\">\n            <source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Slot81_Infographic_Desktop-2.png\" >\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Slot81_Infographic_Mobile-1.png\" alt=\"\">\n        <\/picture>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<p>Learn how to sort, analyse, and interpret data to inform business strategy with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/products\/uct-data-analysis-online-short-course\">UCT Data Analysis online short course<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"accordion\">\n<div class=\"card\">\n<div id=\"headingOne\" class=\"card-header\">\n<h6 class=\"mb-0\"><button class=\"btn\" style=\"background-color: transparent;\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#sources\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-controls=\"sources\"> <strong>Click here to view sources<\/strong> <\/button><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sources\" class=\"collapse\" aria-labelledby=\"headingOne\" data-parent=\"#accordion\">\n<div class=\"card-body\">\n<ul class=\"mx-0\" style=\"list-style: none;\">\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>1<\/sup> Pickel, D. (Mar, 2019). \u20185 steps of the data analysis process\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.g2.com\/data-analysis-process\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> G2<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>2<\/sup> Dillard, J. (Nd). \u2018The data analysis process: 5 steps to better decision making\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigskyassociates.com\/blog\/bid\/372186\/The-Data-Analysis-Process-5-Steps-To-Better-Decision-Making\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Big Sky Associates<\/a>. Accessed 05 June 2019.<\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>3<\/sup> Quain, S. (Apr, 2018). \u20184 common examples of internal data\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/yourbusiness.azcentral.com\/four-common-examples-internal-data-12688.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> AZ Central<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>4<\/sup> (Mar, 2016). \u2018Understanding analytics part 2: Top external sources of big data\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aunalytics.com\/understanding-analytics-part-2-top-external-sources-of-big-data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Aunalytics<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>5<\/sup> (Nd). \u2018What is big data? A buzzword explained\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scnsoft.com\/blog\/what-is-big-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Science Soft<\/a>. Accessed 01 June 2019.<\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>6<\/sup> Seif, G. (Oct, 2018). \u2018The art of cleaning your data\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/the-art-of-cleaning-your-data-b713dbd49726\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Towards Data Science<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>7<\/sup> (Nd). \u2018Descriptive and inferential statistics\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/statistics.laerd.com\/statistical-guides\/descriptive-inferential-statistics.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Laerd Statistics<\/a>. Accessed 01 June 2019.<\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>8<\/sup> (Nd). \u2018Pearson\u2019s correlation coefficient\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/learntech.uwe.ac.uk\/da\/Default.aspx?pageid=1442\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> the University of West England<\/a>. Accessed 01 June 2019.<\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>9<\/sup> Gallo, A. (Nov, 2015). \u2018A refresher on regression analysis\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2015\/11\/a-refresher-on-regression-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Harvard Business Review<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>10<\/sup> Kenton, W. (Apr, 2019). \u2018Analysis of variances (ANOVA)\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/a\/analysis-of-variances.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Investopedia<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>11<\/sup> (2017). \u2018Data analysis and interpretation\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/methods.sagepub.com\/base\/download\/Stage\/42\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Sage Research Methods<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>12<\/sup> Dillard, J. (Nd). \u2018The data analysis process: 5 steps to better decision making\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigskyassociates.com\/blog\/bid\/372186\/The-Data-Analysis-Process-5-Steps-To-Better-Decision-Making\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Big Sky Associates<\/a>. Accessed 05 June 2019.<\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>13<\/sup> (Nd). \u2018Structure of a data analysis report\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stat.cmu.edu\/~brian\/701\/notes\/paper-structure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Carnegie Mellon University Statistics &amp; Data Science<\/a>. Accessed 02 June 2019.<\/li>\n\n<li class=\"mb-4\"><sup>14<\/sup> (Nd). \u2018Structure of a data analysis report\u2019. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stat.cmu.edu\/~brian\/701\/notes\/paper-structure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Carnegie Mellon University Statistics &amp; Data Science<\/a>. Accessed 02 June 2019.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Data analysis has the ability to transform raw available data into meaningful insights for your business and your decision-making. It can be applied to almost any industry, and in a number of roles within those industries. While there are several different ways of collecting and interpreting this data, most data-analysis processes follow the same six [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":37926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[122],"article-format":[],"class_list":["post-37924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice","tag-business-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Data Analysis Process in 6 Steps | GetSmarter Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A step by step guide to the data analysis process helping you to collect, transform and clean data to discover the required information.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Data Analysis Process in 6 Steps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A step by step guide to the data analysis process helping you to collect, transform and clean data to discover the required information.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetSmarter Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-18T10:37:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-11T08:46:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Slot81_Banner_Mobile.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"278\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicolaas Hendrikse\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GetSmarter Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicolaas Hendrikse\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/54df9ae2cf979a5ab84055df76f7a0c6\"},\"headline\":\"The Data Analysis Process in 6 Steps\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-18T10:37:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-11T08:46:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/the-data-analysis-process-in-6-steps\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.getsmarter.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Slot81_Banner_Mobile.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Business &amp; 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