Exploring the data
The process of exploring data is not always straightforward and can involve a variety of approaches and techniques. Some common tasks that are involved in data exploration include recognizing different types of data, transforming data types, and using code to systematically improve the quality of the entire dataset. These tasks can be accomplished using tools such as the pandas
Python package, which is commonly used for data manipulation and analysis.
There are a few basic questions that you should consider when exploring a new dataset. These questions can help you to get a sense of the data and guide your analysis. The three basic questions are presented here:
- What are the types of data that are present in the dataset?
- What are the characteristics and patterns of the data?
- How is the data organized, and what transformations might be necessary to make it more usable?
By answering these questions and exploring your data thoroughly, you can...