Thinking with Data: How to Turn Information into Insights

Max Shron

Jan 2014 · "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

About this ebook

Many analysts are too concerned with tools and techniques for cleansing, modeling, and visualizing datasets and not concerned enough with asking the right questions. In this practical guide, data strategy consultant Max Shron shows you how to put the why before the how, through an often-overlooked set of analytical skills.

Thinking with Data helps you learn techniques for turning data into knowledge you can use. You’ll learn a framework for defining your project, including the data you want to collect, and how you intend to approach, organize, and analyze the results. You’ll also learn patterns of reasoning that will help you unveil the real problem that needs to be solved.

• Learn a framework for scoping data projects
• Understand how to pin down the details of an idea, receive feedback, and begin prototyping
• Use the tools of arguments to ask good questions, build projects in stages, and communicate results
• Explore data-specific patterns of reasoning and learn how to build more useful arguments
• Delve into causal reasoning and learn how it permeates data work
• Put everything together, using extended examples to see the method of full problem thinking in action

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About the author

Max Shron runs a small data strategy consultancy in New York, working with many organizations to help them get the most out of their data. His analyses of transit, public health, and housing markets has been featured in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, WNYC, and more. Prior to becoming a data strategy consultant, he was the data scientist for OkCupid.