Contents
1. Data Analysis as Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Epicycles of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 Setting the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Epicycle of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Setting Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Collecting Information . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5 Comparing Expectations to Data . . . . . . 10
2.6 Applying the Epicycle of Analysis Process . 11
3. Stating and Refining the Question . . . . . . . . 16
3.1 Types of Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2 Applying the Epicycle to Stating and Refin-
ing Your Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.3 Characteristics of a Good Question . . . . . 20
3.4 Translating a Question into a Data Problem 23
3.5 Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.6 Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4. Exploratory Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1 Exploratory Data Analysis Checklist: A Case
Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2 Formulate your question . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3 Read in your data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.4 Check the Packaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.5 Look at the Top and the Bottom of your Data 39
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