Data analysis is the act of transforming data with the aim of extracting useful information and facilitating conclusions. Depending on the type of data and the question, this might include application of statistical methods, curve fitting, selecting or discarding certain subsets based on specific criteria, or other techniques. Data visualization is sometimes an important part of data analysis, especially in the case of explorative data analysis.

A special case is the data analysis in information technology audits.

See also

• Scientific computing
• Analytics
• Business intelligence

Statistics | Scientific method