Data basics

Introduzione ai dati

Maarten Van den Broeck

Senior Content Developer at DataCamp

Data is everywhere

Data is everywhere

Data is everywhere

Data is everywhere

Data is everywhere

Data is everywhere

What is data?

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• Derived from datum: given, fact

What is data?

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• Derived from datum: given, fact
• Valuable resource in this digital era$^1$

¹ The Economist, May 6th 2017: The world most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data

Data context

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• Who is a great player?
  • Lionel Messi
  • Alexander Ovechkin

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Data context

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• Who is a great player?
  • Lionel Messi
  • Alexander Ovechkin

$$

Data context

$$

• Who is a great player?
  • Lionel Messi
  • Alexander Ovechkin

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Data context

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Information that provides meaning to data

• When the data was collected
• Where the data was collected
• ...

These characteristics of the data are called the metadata

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Types of data

Unstructured:

• Football match video
• Without labels or order

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Structured:

• Table listing goals, times, players
• Organized and easier to analyze

• Common in spreadsheets
• Easy to filter and analyze

Examples:

• Sales records
• Employee attendance
• Weather data

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Sales records  

ID	Product	Sales
1	T-shirt	15
2	Jeans	2
3	Shoes	3
4	Jacket	1
5	Hat	5

• Harder to analyze
• Needs processing

Examples:

• Videos
• Interviews
• Pictures

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• Also called numerical data
• Ideal for calculations and visualizations

Examples:

• Points scored
• Height
• Temperature

• Also called categorical data
• Useful for spotting patterns

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Examples:

• Favorite sports
• Customer feedback

Let's recap

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• Structured: organized and easy to analyze

• Unstructured: complex but insightful

• Quantitative: numerical and ideal for calculations

• Qualitative: describes categories and reveals trends

Let's practice!

Introduzione ai dati