| It seems curious that we have not found a general definition of this term in the literature. In statistics, for example, data analysis is understood as “the process of computing various summaries and derived values from the given collection of data” (Hand 1999, p. 3). It is specially stressed that the process is iterative: “One studies the data, examines it using some analytic technique, decides to look at it another way, perhaps modifying it in the process by transformation or partitioning, and then goes back to the beginning and applies another data analytic tool. This can go round and round many times. Each technique is being used to probe a slightly different aspect of the data – to ask a slightly different question of the data” (Hand 1999, p. 3).
In the area of geographic information systems (GIS), data analysis is often defined as “a process for looking at geographic patterns in your data and at relationships between features” (Mitchell 1999, p. 11). It starts with formulating the question that needs to be answered, followed by choosing a method on the basis of the question, the type of data available, and the level of information required (this may raise a need for additional data). Then the data are processed with the use of the chosen method and the results are displayed. This allows the analyst to decide whether the information obtained is valid or useful, or whether the analysis should be redone using different parameters or even a different method. |