Practical Data Analysis: An Example

Abstract

Before talking about the full-fledged data analysis process and diving into the details of individual methods, this chapter demonstrates some typical pitfalls one encounters when analyzing real-world data. We start our journey through the data analysis process by looking over the shoulders of two (pseudo) data analysts, Stan and Laura, working on some hypothetical data analysis problems in a sales environment. Being differently skilled, they show how things should and should not be done. Throughout the chapter, a number of typical problems that data analysts meet in real work situations are demonstrated as well. We will skip algorithmic and other details here and only briefly mention the intention behind applying some of the processes and methods. They will be discussed in depth in subsequent chapters.