Informationweek
11 Ways to Ask Smarter Data Analytics Questions
Not everyone has been trained to think like a data scientist or a data analyst, but they can learn to think more like one.
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It's been said that the quality of insights depends on data. However, the quality of insights also depends on the questions asked. While one of life's pearls of wisdom is, "If you want better answers, ask better questions," how does someone know what a better question is, let alone a better answer?
“When an experienced data scientist is working on a problem, they’re usually not looking to prove themselves right; they’re looking to prove themselves wrong," said David Robinson, principal data scientist at data science platform provider Heap. "They’re thinking, what if this data source is untrustworthy? Would this be different if I used the median rather than the mean? How could I tell if this conclusion is confounded by other variables? This habit of critical thinking helps you build trust not only with stakeholders, but also helps you trust your own conclusions so you can build on them further.”