Descriptive
Analytics
Descriptive Analytics
Descriptive analytics is the process of using current and
historical data to identify trends and relationships. It’s
sometimes called the simplest form of data analysis
because it describes trends and relationships but doesn’t
dig deeper.
The primary goal of descriptive analytics is to provide a
clear and concise summary of the data, enabling
researchers or analysts to gain insights and understand
patterns, trends, and distributions within the dataset.
Importance and Benefits
• Understanding past performance - helps organizations monitor key performance indicators (KPIs)
identify trends, measure progress, and make data-driven decisions.
• Making informed decisions - provides the foundation for making informed decisions.
• Improving efficiency and effectiveness - analyzing data on processes and operations, identify
inefficiencies and find ways to improve them.
• Communication and collaboration – it can be used to create clear and concise reports that are easy to
understand and share.
Key Concepts and Techniques
• Data Collection and Cleaning
• Descriptive Statistics
• Data Visualization
Data Collection and Cleaning
Internal data is facts and information that come directly
from the company’s systems and are specific to the
company in question.
External data is information that originates from outside
the company and is readily available to the public. External
data is used to help a company develop a better
understanding of the world in which they are operating.
Data imputation is a method for retaining the majority of
the dataset's data and information by substituting missing
data with a different value.
Descriptive Analytics
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Measures of Dispersion
• Measures of Shape
Measures of Central Tendency
A measure of central tendency is a single value that
attempts to describe a set of data by identifying the central
position within that set of data.
Mean - The mean is the sum of the value of each
observation in a dataset divided by the number of
observations. This is also known as the arithmetic average.
Median - The median is the middle value in distribution
when the values are arranged in ascending or descending
order.
Mode - The mode is the most commonly occurring value in
a distribution.
Measures of Dispersion
Dispersion in statistics is a way to describe how spread out
or scattered the data is around an average value. It helps to
understand if the data points are close together or far
apart.
Measures of Dispersion
Range - It is defined as the difference between the largest
and the smallest value in the distribution.
Range = Maximum Value - Minimum Value
Variance - It is defined as the average of the square
deviation from the mean of the given data set.
Standard Deviation - It is the square root of the arithmetic
average of the square of the deviations measured from the
mean.
Measures of Shape
Measures of shape describe the overall pattern or distribution of
data points in a dataset. They help to visualize and understand
how data is spread out and whether it's symmetrical or skewed.
Example
Given this data of scores. Compute for the mean, median,
mode, range, variance, and standard deviation.
Mean
Variance
Standard Deviation
Activity (15 mins)
Given this data of scores. Compute for the mean, median,
mode, range, variance, and standard deviation.