What’s the Best Way to Learn About Data Driven Decisions?
What does it mean to be data driven? What are big data and how are they useful? It’s not as complicated as it all seems. To learn about data driven decisions, you first need to know what it means. Then, you’ll be able to make important data driven decisions to enhance your career in IT. But how? The best way to learn about data driven decisions is to tackle a project or situation with an analytical approach, record what works and what doesn’t, and to apply those lessons the next time around.
What is Data Driven Decision Making?
Data driven decision making is when you make an informed decision based on evidence and data instead of just relying on what your gut tells you. That’s not to say you shouldn’t use some intuition. Just don’t rely on it without looking at the data.
Why are Data Driven Decisions Important?
Data are pieces of information that can fit together like a puzzle to show a larger picture. Data can help you identify patterns that may not be obvious on the surface.
Where to Begin
If you want to incorporate data driven decision making into your job in business or tech, start with project goals. What are you trying to accomplish? What are the questions that need to be answered for you to be successful? This will give you a good frame of reference from where to find data sources.
Where to Get the Data
This all depends on the project but generally you’ll pull data from databases, analytics software, social media platforms, or open sources (which just means free for everyone, like government data). Be strategic here. You don’t need to overwhelm yourself with data and statistics. Carefully choose the data related to what you’re trying to do.
How to Clean Data
Clean data just means organized data. All the information you compile should be well-organized so that you and others can look at it and analyze it. This is where a knowledge of office suite programs like Microsoft Office will come in handy. You can use these to organize your information, catalogue it in charts or tables, and make it easy for your peers or supervisors to gather info from it and begin to draw conclusions.
Data Analysis and Conclusions
Now that your data are available and organized, it’s time to dive in. Use your office suite tools to turn tables and charts into graphs and visualizations. See if you can find any patterns or trends. Then, take what you’ve found and see if the data help you meet your goals from the outset. Maybe they lead to more questions, which means you may have to do some more data analysis. But that’s okay, because the entire process is based on finding fact in numbers.
If you’re looking for a career enhancement in tech, data driven decision making can help you take the next step. Charter College offers Information Technology programs that will help prepare you for the data driven world. Our programs will help you understand the essentials for using data to your advantage, and the company’s. Request more information from Charter College today to get on track with an entry-level career in IT.