Intro to Power BI

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Stage 4: data analysis

My Courses Intro to Power BI Intro to data analysis Stage 4: data analysis
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Stages of Data Analysis:

  1. Data Preparation
  2. Data Modelling
  3. Data Visualisation
  4. Data Analysis
We covered #1-3. Let’s go into the Stage 4 – where we analise the data.

Step 4: Analysing the data

Why it is Important

4

Data analysis is the final stage of the whole process. Here you get to use all the data that you collected, prepared, modelled and visualised – and now you get to find answers to your questions. 

The type of data analysis you perform is heavily influenced by your aims. However, there are several ways at your disposal including: 

Types of data analysis

 

  • Univariate or bivariate analysis – Univariate analysis is the simplest form of data analysis there is. As the name implies, “uni” meaning “one”, this type of analysis looks at one variable. Similarly bivariate analysis is a study of two variables
  • Time-series analysis – As the name suggests, Time-series analysis uses time-series data which is basically data that is recorded against time. (For example, a simple example of time series analysis is measuring the speed of an object, you can measure the distance it has moved from a point and the timestamp. Using this you can calculate the speed of the object.)
  • Regression analysis – Regression analysis is used to look for trends in data.. 

If you’re interested in finding more information on this, here are some good links: 

Univariate
Bivariate
Regression

Using our data analysis

What do we use it for?

More important than how we analyse the data, though, is how you use the analysis. This is determined by the insights you want. In general, any form of data analysis can fall into one of the following categories:

Click on the blue arrows to find out more about each category:

 Seek to know – used for things like number of people, number of male vs female, ages of people etc

    • Example: Using the census population data from the different districts in Dystopia, LM13 can show the demographics (number of females vs males, ages etc) of the city of Dystopia.

Seek to understand – used to see which Dystopia district grows more, which district has more crime etc

  •  

Seek to make predictions

Example: Using historical time-series data to study the production revenue flows of each district, LM13 can forecast the revenue per district for the coming year.

Seek to give advice

A step further from predictive analysis is when you can use all that you know to give insight on a problem and provide a solution for it. 

  •  

Example: spending patterns vs crime of the different districts in Dystopia >> LM13 can make recommendations on what each district’s efforts should be focused on to fix their crime problems.

How is data analysis applied

In the real world

It is important to note that these different types of analysis can be used in a single process. 

Descriptive and diagnostic analysis is almost always used – because it gives you an understanding of the data that you are working with. However, depending on the problem you are trying to solve – you may use ALL or only A FEW of the other analysis tools as well. 

It all depends on the type of questions you are tasked with. You will likely find that at least one of these categories will be suitable for your solution.

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Whitespace – basically empty space (like spaces, tabs, or enter button) that makes the code look neat and organized, but the computer doesn’t care about it.

 A User – is any person that interacts (by inputs) with a program without having to write the code directly. For example, you are the user to the code that makes your browser/website run. When you clicked on this pop-up, that was the input that made this explanation come up when the code detected it.

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TechWays will be providing the WordPress course and web dev resources for free to any learner wanting to participate. 

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Indentation – In the written form of many languages, an indentation or indent is an empty space at the beginning of a line to signal the start of a new paragraph.

Text editor – is the part of the IDE where you write the code. Most text editors highlight words with different properties like functions to help you distinguish them from one another. 

Homogeneous – of the same kind; alike throughout.

Heterogeneous – diverse in character or content; containing different things

Prompt – to  cause or bring about; to make something happen. For example making someone to say or write something.

Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes on a machine or a system. It is a logical, systematic search for the source of a problem in order to solve it, and make the product or process operational again.

String Built-in Functions/Methods

There are a lot of strings functions/methods in Python. Find full list in course manual. Here’s are some that you find useful in this course:

Functions

  • len(varName) – Returns the length of a list, string
  • join(varName) – Converts the elements of an iterable into a string.

Methods 

  • varName.capitalize() – Converts the first character to upper case.
  • varName.center(length) – Returns a centered string
  • varName.count(“?”) – Returns the number of times a specified value (?) occurs in a string (varName).
  • varName.endswith(“?”) – Returns true if the string ends with the specified value.
  • varName.find(“?”) – Searches the string for a specified value and returns the position of where it was found.
  • varName.format(placeholder = value) – Formats specified values in a string.
  • varName.index(“?”) – Searches the string for a specified value and returns the position of where it was found.
  • varName.isalnum() – Returns True if all characters in the string are alphanumeric.
  • varName.isalpha() – Returns True if all characters in the string are in the alphabet.
  • varName.isascii() – Returns True if all characters in the string are ascii characters.
  • varName.isdecimal() – Returns True if all characters in the string are decimals.
  • varName.isdigit() – Returns True if all characters in the string are digits.
  • varName.isidentifier() – Returns True if the string is an identifier.
  • varName.islower() – Returns True if all characters in the string are lower case.
  • varName.isupper() – Returns True if all characters in the string are upper case.
  • varName.isnumeric() – Returns True if all characters in the string are numeric.
  • varName.isprintable() – Returns True if all characters in the string are printable.
  • varName.isspace() – Returns True if all characters in the string are whitespaces.
  • varName.istitle() – Returns True if the string follows the rules of a title.
  • varName.ljust(value) – Returns a left justified version of the string.
  • varName.rjust() Returns a right justified version of the string.
  • varName.lower() – Converts a string into lower case.
  • varName.upper() – Converts a string into upper case.
  • varName.strip() – Returns a trimmed version of the string.
  • varName.lstrip() – Returns a left trim version of the string.
  • varName.rstrip() Returns a right trim version of the string.
  • varName.partition() – Returns a tuple where the string is parted into three parts.
  • varName.replace(“old”, “new”) – Returns a string where a specified value is replaced with a specified value.
  • varName.rfind() – Searches the string for a specified value and returns the last position of where it was found.
  • varName.rindex() – Searches the string for a specified value and returns the last position of where it was found.
  • varName.rpartition() – Returns a tuple where the string is parted into three parts.
  • varName.rsplit() – Splits the string at the specified separator, and returns a list.
  • varName.split() – Splits the string at the specified separator, and returns a list.
  • varName.splitlines() – Splits the string at line breaks and returns a list.
  • varName.startswith() – Returns true if the string starts with the specified value.
  • varName.swapcase() – Swaps cases, lower case becomes upper case and vice versa.

String Special Characters

There a number of special string characters that have different functions when used inside ” “. Here’re some useful and common ones:

  • \n – Newline – Everything after it goes to next line.
  • \t – Horizontal tab – creates a tab space, similar to when you use ‘tab’ on keyboard.
  • \b – backspace – deletes the character before the it.
  • \r – carriage return – same as \n

In programming Concatenation is a process of appending one string to another. 

\ – escape character is a string character that tell Python that the next character after it should be taken as a string and not as an instruction.

str ( ) is a built-in function that converts and sequence of characters (numbers especially) in to text. 

Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game created by Leonard Stern and Roger Price. It consists of one player prompting others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading aloud.

type ( ) is a built-in function (still to cover what built-in functions are later) that determines the Data Type of any data presented. 

input ( ) is a built-in function (still to cover what built-in functions are later) allows a user to insert info into a program/the code. 

print ( ) is a built-in function (still to cover what built-in functions are later) that executes data inside the brackets. The results get printed out on the console/results section.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) – A digital environment used to develop games, software, hardware, that offers integration from debugging to compiling. Essentially where you write, edit, and run to test your code. 

Variables

More about variables

Info about variables

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Calling on all high schoolers interested in tech as a career. Join us on Thursday 22 September at 5:30pm.

 

We will be sharing:

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Calling on all high schoolers interested in tech as a career to join us on 16 September at 5:30pm. If you missed it, we’ll host another one on 18 November. 

We covered the following:

  • general tech career tips
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  • the skills needed to access these careers
  • some of the job realities in these careers

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We will be talking to Noelene Kinsley from GC Network. Noelene has been specialised in the exciting career of Genetic Counseling and wants to share her passion for making the world a healthier place using genetics….and data science technology. 

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Let’s hear more about the trends in the software and programming industries, where jobs are moving to and what kind of skills you’ll need in this exciting world of opportunities out there. 

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