Glossary terms from course 1, module 1

Terms and definitions for Course 1, Module 1

Analytical skills: Qualities and characteristics associated with using facts to solve problems

Analytical thinking: The process of identifying and defining a problem, then solving it by using
data in an organized, step-by-step manner

Context: The condition in which something exists or happens

Data: A collection of facts

Data analysis: The collection, transformation, and organization of data in order to draw
conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making

Data analyst: Someone who collects, transforms, and organizes data in order to draw
conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making

Data analytics: The science of data

Data design: How information is organized

Data-driven decision-making: Using facts to guide business strategy

Data ecosystem: The various elements that interact with one another in order to produce,
manage, store, organize, analyze, and share data

Data science: A field of study that uses raw data to create new ways of modeling and
understanding the unknown

Data strategy: The management of the people, processes, and tools used in data analysis

Data visualization: The graphical representation of data

Dataset: A collection of data that can be manipulated or analyzed as one unit

Gap analysis: A method for examining and evaluating the current state of a process in order to
identify opportunities for improvement in the future
 Root cause: The reason why a problem occurs

Technical mindset: The ability to break things down into smaller steps or pieces and work with
them in an orderly and logical way

Visualization: (Refer to data visualization)

Assessment-taking strategies

As you progress through this program, you will complete graded assessments at the end of each
module. Assessments are a useful signpost for you to note your progress or identify concepts or
skills you need to review. However, assessments can sometimes feel overwhelming.
Approaching them with a strategy can make them more manageable. To help you do just that,
this reading will give you a list of tips and strategies you can use to set yourself up for success
and feel confident in your ability to overcome these challenges.

Before taking an assessment:

 Review your notes, the videos, the readings, and the most recent glossary to refresh yourself on
the content.
 Find a picture of something or an object that makes you feel happy. For example, you might look
at a photograph of a beautiful beach or a peaceful forest when you feel overwhelmed.

During the assessment:

 Review the test before filling in answers. Remember to check your work before you click
Submit.
 Answer the easy questions first; skip the ones you don’t know the answer to right away.
 For multiple choice questions, focus on eliminating the wrong answers first.
 Read each question twice. There are often clues that are easy to miss the first time.
 Remember to slow down and trust your knowledge. You probably know more than you give
yourself credit for.
 Take some time during the assessment to rest for a few seconds. This can really help calm your
nerves.
 If you start to feel anxious:

 Spell your name backwards or do an easy math problem. This brings you back to the frontal lobe
of your brain, which helps you recall information more easily.
 Focus on calm, steady breathing.
 Visualize success.

Before you submit the assessment:

 Check your work, but be confident. Sometimes people change correct answers because they feel
wrong, but they’re actually right. Your first instinct is usually correct.

After you submit the assessment:

 Take a deep breath and give yourself some positive feedback. Regardless of your score, your
effort was a worthwhile learning experience!
 Remember, you can retake the assessment if you aren’t satisfied with your score.

Variations of the data life cycle

You have learned that there are six stages to the data life cycle. Here's a recap:

1. Plan: Decide what kind of data is needed, how it will be managed, and who will be responsible
for it.
2. Capture: Collect or bring in data from a variety of different sources.
3. Manage: Care for and maintain the data. This includes determining how and where it is stored
and the tools used to do so.
4. Analyze: Use the data to solve problems, make decisions, and support business goals.
5. Archive: Keep relevant data stored for long-term and future reference.
6. Destroy: Remove data from storage and delete any shared copies of the data.

Note: Be careful not to confuse the six stages of the data life cycle (plan, capture, manage,
analyze, archive, and destroy) with the six phases of the data analysis process (ask, prepare,
process, analyze, share, and act). They are not interchangeable.

The data life cycle provides a generic or common framework for how data is managed. You may
recall that variations of the data analysis life cycle were described in Origins of the data analysis
 process. The same can be done for the data life cycle. The rest of this reading provides a glimpse
of how government, finance, and education institutions can view data life cycles a little
differently.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the following data life cycle:

1. Plan
2. Acquire
3. Maintain
4. Access
5. Evaluate
6. Archive

For more information, refer to U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Data Management Life Cycle page.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

The USGS uses the data life cycle below:

1. Plan
2. Acquire
3. Process
4. Analyze
5. Preserve
6. Publish/share

Several cross-cutting or overarching activities are also performed during each stage of their life
cycle:

 Describe (metadata and documentation)

For more information, refer to the USGS Data Lifecycle page.

Financial institutions
 Financial institutions may take a slightly different approach to the data life cycle as described in
The Data Life Cycle, an article in Strategic Finance magazine:

1. Capture
2. Qualify
3. Transform
4. Utilize
5. Report
6. Archive
7. Purge

Harvard Business School (HBS)

One final data life cycle informed by Harvard University research has eight stages:

1. Generation
2. Collection
3. Processing
4. Storage
5. Management
6. Analysis
7. Visualization
8. Interpretation

For more information, refer to 8 Steps in the Data Life Cycle.

Key takeaways

Understanding the importance of the data life cycle will set you up for success as a data analyst.
Individual stages in the data life cycle will vary from company to company or by industry or
sector. Historical data is important to both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the USGS, so
their data life cycle focuses on archiving and backing up data. Harvard's interests are in research
and teaching, so its data life cycle includes visualization and interpretation even though these are
more often associated with a data analysis life cycle. The HBS data life cycle also doesn't call out
a stage for purging or destroying data. In contrast, the data life cycle for finance clearly identifies
archive and purge stages. To sum it up, although data life cycles vary, one data management
 principle is universal: Govern how data is handled so that it is accurate, secure, and available to
meet your organization's needs.

More on the phases of data analysis and this program

Each step in the data analysis process—ask, prepare, process, analyze, share, and act—plays a
crucial role in extracting meaningful insights from data. As you navigate through each phase,
from asking the right questions to taking informed actions, you harness the true power of data. In
this reading, you’ll explore how the data analysis process guides this program.

The ask phase

At the start of any successful data analysis, the data analyst:

 Takes the time to fully understand stakeholder expectations

Qualifying stakeholder expectations means determining who the stakeholders are, what they
want, when they want it, why they want it, and how best to communicate with them. Defining
the problem means looking at the current state and identifying the ways in which it’s different
from the ideal state. With expectations qualified and the problem defined, you can derive
questions that will help achieve these goals.

In an upcoming course, you'll learn how to ask effective questions and define the problem by
working with stakeholders. You'll also cover strategies that can help you share what you discover
in a way that keeps people interested.

The prepare phase

In the prepare phase, the emphasis is on identifying and locating data you can use to answer your
questions. In an upcoming course, you'll learn more about the different types of data and how to
identify which kinds of data are most useful for solving a particular problem. You'll also
discover why it's so important that data and results are objective and unbiased. In other words,
any decisions made from an analysis should always be based on facts and be fair and impartial.
 The process phase

In this phase, the aim is to refine the data. Data analysts find and eliminate any errors and
inaccuracies that can get in the way of results. This usually means:

 Cleaning data
 Transforming data into a more useful format
 Combining two or more datasets to make information more complete
 Removing outliers (data points that could skew the information)

After data analysts process data, they check the data they prepared to make sure it's complete and
correct. This phase is all about getting the details right. Accordingly, the data analyst will refine
strategies for verifying and sharing their data cleaning with stakeholders. In an upcoming course,
you’ll use spreadsheets and structured query language, or SQL, to clean data.

The analyze phase

With a solid foundation of well-defined questions and clean data, you’ll delve into the analyze
phase. This is when you turn the data you’ve gathered, prepared, and processed into actionable
information. Data analysts use many powerful tools in their work. In one upcoming course you'll
continue using two of them: spreadsheets and SQL. In another upcoming course you’ll explore
using the programming language R to work with and analyze data.

The share phase

This phase is exactly what it sounds like: It’s time to share what you’ve learned with your
stakeholders! In this part of the program, you'll learn how data analysts interpret results and
share them with others to help stakeholders make effective, data-driven decisions. In the share
phase, visualization is a data analyst's best friend. So, an upcoming course will highlight why
visualization is essential to getting others to understand what your data is telling you. In another
upcoming course, you’ll learn how to visualize data with R.

The act phase

The data analysis journey culminates in the act phase, when data insights are put to work. For
you, this action involves preparing for your job search and having the chance to complete a case
study project. It's a great opportunity for you to bring together everything you've worked on
throughout this course. Plus, adding a case study to your portfolio helps you stand out from other
candidates!