DATA ANALYTICS vs DATA ANALYSIS 101

Essentially speaking, there is no precise or generally accepted definition of Data, however for the purpose of this article we will define data in its simplest form as;

Anything around us that we can derive a set of qualitative values or quantitative variables from.

Data as of today is an inevitable part of our lives and can be very ambiguous either in its raw form or as information, fact, figures, character, symbols and so on.

In a different approach, we can define Data also as;

Bits and bytes stored in a computer or as facts stored in the human mind.

With the above definitions of Data, we can then look into what Analysis and Analytics mean in a layman term as;

Analysis being a Process, while Analytics is seen as a way of thinking and acting.

Having said that we can then have a clearer picture to what Data means when we are either referring to it as Analysis or Analytics.

Its is important for us to know there is also no fundamentally acclaimed meaning of Data Analytics/Analysis. However, we will be using the above definitions to create our own definition for this purpose of this article.

Data Analysis is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming and modeling data, While Data Analytics can be defined as a qualitative and quantitative technique and step used to enhance productivity and business gain.

With the above definition, we can see that we cannot take one without the other. Hence Data Analysis and Data Analytics are two different forms of information which together aids the proper interpretation of Data to provide meaningful insight into the Past, Present and Future of any given Data.