W1 Introduction to Business Analytics

Question 1

What is descriptive analytics?

Answer 1

Using data to understand past and present performance and make informed decisions

Question 2

What is predictive analytics?

Answer 2

Analysing past performance in an effort to predict future by examining historical data, detecting patterns or relationships in these data, and then extrapolating these relationships forward in time

Question 3

What is prescriptive analytics?

Answer 3

Using optimization to identify the best alternative to minimize or maximise some objective

Question 4

What is population?

Answer 4

The set of objects of interest

Question 5

What is census?

Answer 5

The process of making measurements on the whole population for variables of interest

Question 6

What is a sample?

Answer 6

A subset of the population

Question 7

What is sampling?

Answer 7

The process of choosing a sample according to valid statistical principles

Question 8

What are the characteristics and two types of categorical/qualitative data?

Answer 8

• an identifier or label with no numerical meaning
• nominal data cannot be ranked
• ordinal data can be ranked in a meaningful way

Question 9

What are the characteristics and two types of numerical/qualitative data?

Answer 9

• have natural order and numbers represent some quantity
• numerical values from counting is discrete
• numerical values from measurements is continuous

Question 10

What is big data?

Answer 10

The deep and broad collections of data that arise from ongoing collection of data through organic distributed processes

Question 11

What is volume?

Answer 11

Data is generated, captured and stored from numerous available sources, quickly building datasets

Question 12

What is velocity?

Answer 12

Everyday activities result in the production of data that are automatically stored in real time

Question 13

What is Variety?

Answer 13

Automatic data capture from so many sources means that datasets are both broad (cover numerous issues) and deep (provide great detail)

Question 14

What is Data Mining?

Answer 14

The use of machine learning to investigate and analyze extensive datasets to identify information and patterns and to predict behaviours in ways that are not feasible using traditional statistical approaches. Can explore entire populations rather than rely on samples and statistical inferences. Made possible by ready access to datasets and computing power

Question 15

What is machine learning?

Answer 15

Algorithms that learn directly from data, especially local patterns, often in a layered or iterative fashion. Automatically explore data based on the data mining process’s own findings