Ask Questions to Make Data-Driven Decisions Flashcards
What is structured thinking?
The process of recognising the current problem or situation, organising available information, revealing gaps and opportunities, and identifying the options.
What are the four basic activities involved in structured thinking?
- Recognising the current problem or situation.
- Organising available information.
- Revealing gaps and opportunities.
- Identifying your options.
List 6 common problem types
- Making predictions
- Categorising things
- Spotting something unusual
- Identifying themes
- Discovering connections
- Finding patterns
Define the ‘making predictions’ problem type
Using data to make an informed decision about how things may be in the future
Define the ‘categorising things’ problem type
Assigning information to different groups or clusters based on common features
Define the ‘spotting something unusual’ problem type
Identifying data that is different from the norm
Define the ‘identifying themes’ problem type
Grouping categorised information into broader concepts
Define the ‘discovering connections’ problem type
Finding similar challenges faced by different entities and combining data and insights to address them
Define the ‘finding patterns’ problem type
Using historical data to understand what happened in the past and, therefore, what is likely to happen again
What is a SMART question?
It is: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Relevant, Time-bound
What is a SPECIFIC question?
Simple, significant, and focused on a single topic or a few closely related ideas
What is a MEASURABLE question?
A question that can be quantified and assessed
What is an ACTION-ORIENTED question?
One that encourages change
What is a RELEVANT question?
A question that matters, is important and has significance to the problem you’re trying to solve
What is a TIME-BOUND question?
One that specifies the time to be studied
What is data-inspired decision-making?
Exploring different data sources to find out what they have in common
What is an algorithm?
A process or set of rules to be followed for a specific task
How is data-inspired decision-making different to data-driven?
Data-inspired decisions include the same considerations while also creating space for people using data to consider a broader range of ideas: drawing on comparisons to related concepts, giving weight to feelings and experiences, and considering other qualities that may be more difficult to measure
What is quantitative data?
Specific and objective measures of numerical facts
What is qualitative data?
Subjective or explanatory measures of qualities and characteristics
What is a pivot table?
A data summarisation tool that is used in data processing. Pivot tables are used to summarise, sort, reorganise, group, count, total or average data stored in a database
What is a metric?
A single, quantifiable type of data that can be used for measurement
What is a metric goal?
A measurable goal set by a company and evaluated using metrics
What is Big data?
Large and less-specific, covering a long time-period, and helps companies make big decisions
What are the V’s of big data?
- Volume: the amount of data
- Variety: the different kinds of data
- Velocity: how fast the data can be processed
- Veracity: the quality and reliability of the data
