Have you ever been in a situation where you don't know whether to use Analysis or Analytics?
Which word to use?
The similarity of the words: Analysis and Analytics lead people to believe they share the same meaning and use them interchangeably.
Technically, this isn’t correct. There is in fact a distinction between the two.
So let’s clear this up.
First, we will start with Analysis.
Analysis
Consider you have a vast data set containing data of various types.
Instead of tackling the entire dataset and risking becoming overwhelmed you separate it into chunks that are easier to digest. Study them individually and examine how the data relate to other parts and that’s Analysis.
Data in Chunks
Analysis Examples
- Symptoms exhibited by COVID-19 patients.
- Examining blood in a lab to discover all of its components.
The important thing to remember however is that you perform Analysis on things that have already happened in the Past.
Analytics
Analytics refers to the future instead of explaining past events. It explores predicting future scenarios.
Analytics is essentially the application of logical and computational reasoning to the parts obtained in analysis and in doing this you are looking for patterns in exploring what you can do with them in the future.
Here analytics branches off into two areas.
- Qualitative analytics.
Using your intuition and experience with the analysis to plan your next business move.
2. Quantitative analytics.
Applying formulas and algorithms to numbers you have gathered from your analysis.
Analytics Example
Say you are an owner of an online clothing store. You’ve performed a very detailed analysis of women’s clothing articles and feel sure about which fashion trends to follow.
You may use this intuition to decide on which styles of clothing to sell. This would be qualitative analytics but you might not know when to introduce the recent collection.
In that case, relying on past sales data and user experience data you could predict in which month it would be best to do that.
Thank you for reading this post, I hope you enjoyed and learn something new today.
You can find more posts I’ve published here. Stay safe and happy learning!