Data analysis

Steps

Foundations

1. 1 Spreadsheet analysisSort, filter, chart and pivot data in a spreadsheet, the quickest way to start asking questions of a small dataset.

   • Gateway to Business Analytics with Microsoft Excel open.umn.edufree

     Open-access curriculum introducing practical spreadsheet modeling, data manipulation, pivot tables, and descriptive analytics.

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2. 2 Descriptive statisticsUnderstand averages, spread, distributions and sampling so you can summarise data honestly and spot when a number is misleading.

   • Introductory Business Statistics openstax.orgfree

     Peer-reviewed open textbook covering hypothesis testing, regression analysis, forecasting, and probability models for business.

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3. 3 Querying data with SQLSelect, filter, join and aggregate tables with SQL, the common language for pulling data out of almost every database.

   • Kaggle Learn kaggle.comfree

     Free hands-on micro-courses covering practical data analysis, SQL, Python data manipulation, and machine learning fundamentals.

   • DBeaver dbeaver.iofree

     A universal database tool supporting SQL and NoSQL databases for querying, exploring, and managing data science datasets.

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Finding and preparing data

1. 4 Finding datasetsSearch open government, economic and research portals for data that fits your question, and learn to read their documentation and licences.

   • Data.gov data.govfree

     U.S. federal open government data repository providing hundreds of thousands of datasets across commerce, labor, and industry.

   • World Bank Open Data data.worldbank.orgfree

     Free, open-access repository of global development indicators and socioeconomic statistics from the World Bank.

   • Google Dataset Search datasetsearch.research.google.comfree

     Search engine enabling discovery of datasets across institutional repositories, universities, and commercial publishers.

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2. 5 Cleaning data with PythonLoad tables into Python, fix missing values, types and duplicates, and reshape data so later analysis rests on reliable inputs.

   • Kaggle Learn kaggle.comfree

     Free hands-on micro-courses covering practical data analysis, SQL, Python data manipulation, and machine learning fundamentals.

   • DataCamp datacamp.comfreemium

     An online learning platform specializing in data science, Python, R, machine learning, and interactive data analytics courses.

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3. 6 Visual workflows (optional)Build repeatable analysis pipelines by connecting nodes instead of writing code, useful for teams that mix analysts and non-programmers.

   • KNIME Analytics Platform knime.comfree

     Open-source visual programming environment for creating data science, data integration, and advanced business analytics workflows.

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Analysis and communication

1. 7 Hypothesis testing and regressionTest whether differences are real and model relationships between variables, moving from describing data to drawing defensible conclusions.

   • Introductory Business Statistics openstax.orgfree

     Peer-reviewed open textbook covering hypothesis testing, regression analysis, forecasting, and probability models for business.

   • edX: Engineering edx.orgfreemium

     Comprehensive online courses and professional certificates in engineering disciplines taught by leading universities.

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2. 8 Charts that communicateChoose chart types that match your message and design clear visuals, so findings are understood by people who never see the data.

   • FlowingData flowingdata.comfreemium

     Data visualization blog exploring how statisticians, designers, and business analysts interpret data through graphic design and charts.

   • Tableau Public public.tableau.comfree

     Free data visualization platform allowing users to explore, create, and publicly share interactive business analytics dashboards.

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3. 9 Dashboards with BI toolsConnect a business intelligence tool to a database and publish dashboards that let colleagues explore and monitor metrics themselves.

   • Metabase metabase.comfreemium

     Open-source business intelligence tool that enables teams to query databases and build visual dashboards without complex SQL.

   • Apache Superset superset.apache.orgfree

     Open-source data exploration and visualization web application designed to handle enterprise business intelligence at scale.

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Going further

1. 10 Practice on real problemsPick public datasets, ask your own questions and write up the answers, while reading how experienced analysts reason about data.

   • Kaggle Datasets kaggle.comfree

     Community platform offering thousands of open datasets, code notebooks, and benchmarks across business analytics and predictive modeling.

   • Simply Statistics simplystatistics.orgfree

     Academic blog by biostatistics and data science professors discussing data analysis practices, statistics in society, and scientific reproducibility.

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2. 11 Predictive analysis (optional)Take a first step toward forecasting outcomes with simple machine learning models built on the same cleaned data you already analyse.

   • scikit-learn scikit-learn.orgfree

     A Python library featuring efficient tools for predictive data analysis, classification, regression, and clustering.

   • Towards Data Science towardsdatascience.comfreemium

     Independent publication providing practical tutorials, analytical concepts, and case studies written by practicing data professionals.

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3. 12 Cloud data warehouses (optional)Run SQL over very large tables in a serverless warehouse when your data outgrows a laptop or a single database server.

   • BigQuery Documentation docs.cloud.google.comfree

     Official documentation for Google BigQuery, the serverless data warehouse, including guides to SQL queries, user-defined functions, loading data and administration.

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