Abstract
In this chapter we will look at various ways to get an overview of the data. When we are analyzing a new dataset, it is beneficial to get a sense of the layout of the data first. Exploratory data analysis (EDA) is a collection of analysis techniques that we can apply to the data for this purpose. Most of these techniques are often simple to implement as well as computationally inexpensive, which allow us to obtain the exploratory results quickly.
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- 1.
Obtained from the US Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/popest/data/counties/asrh/2011/CC-EST2011-alldata.html.
- 2.
These terms are defined by the Office of Management and Budget of the US federal government. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/fedreg_2010/06282010_metro_standards-Complete.pdf.
- 3.
A possible explanation for the name box plot whiskers is that they resemble a cat’s whiskers.
- 4.
Kurtosis comes from the Greek word kurtos meaning arched.
- 5.
Distributions with zero, positive, and negative excess kurtosis are respectively called: mesokurtic, platykurtic, and leptokurtic distributions.
- 6.
Named after its inventor Corrado Gini.
- 7.
A good reference is Dorfman [2].
- 8.
Walter Cavanagh, of Shell Beach, CA has the world record for the most number of credit cards [6].
References
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Dorfman, R. (1979). A formula for the Gini coefficient. The review of economics and statistics. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 61, 146–149.
Most major U.S. cities show population declines. USA Today, June 2011.
Size 8 is the new 7: Why our feet are getting bigger. Time Magazine, Oct 2012.
Sugary sodas high in diabetes-linked compound. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=4508420&page=1#.UUzdKFt34eF. March 2007.
To his credit, charge card king doesn’t cash in. Los Angeles Times, Dec 2004.
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Pathak, M. (2014). Exploratory Data Analysis. In: Beginning Data Science with R. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12066-9_5
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