DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
Introduction
Descriptive analysis, also known as descriptive analytics or descriptive statistics, is the process of using statistical
techniques to describe or summarize a set of data.
As one of the major types of data analysis, descriptive analysis is popular for its ability to generate accessible insights
from otherwise un-interpreted data.
Purpose of Descriptive Analysis
The purpose of descriptive analytics is to turn data into insights.
It is used to understand what happened in the past and why it happened.
Descriptive analytics uses various techniques to answer questions such as
o “what is the average order value?”,
o “how many orders were placed last month?” or
o “what was the most popular product last year?”.
Descriptive analysis is all about trying to describe or summarize data.
Although it doesn’t make predictions about the future, it can still be extremely valuable.
This is chiefly because descriptive analysis makes it easier to consume data, which can make it easier for
analysts to act on.
Steps Descriptive Analysis
There are four main steps in descriptive analytics:
1. Data collection: Collecting data from various sources such as sales reports, customer surveys, social media, etc.
2. Data preparation: Cleaning and organizing the data so it can be analyzed.
3. Exploratory data analysis: Analyzing the data to find trends, patterns, and relationships.
4. Data visualization: Creating graphs and charts to visualize the data and make it easy to understand.
Types of Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive analysis can be categorized into four types which are measures of frequency, central tendency, dispersion
or variation, and position. These methods are optimal for a single variable at a time.
1. Measures of Frequency
In descriptive analysis, it’s essential to know how frequently a certain event or response is likely to occur.
This is the prime purpose of measures of frequency to make like a count or percent.
For example, consider a survey where 500 participants are asked about their favourite IPL team. A list of
500 responses would be difficult to consume and accommodate, but the data can be made much more
accessible by measuring how many times a certain IPL team was selected.
2. Measures of Central Tendency
In descriptive analysis, it’s also important to find out the Central (or average) Tendency or response.
Central tendency is measured with the use of three averages — mean, median, and mode. As an
example, consider a survey in which the weight of 1,000 people is measured. In this case, the mean
average would be an excellent descriptive metric to measure mid-values.
3. Measures of Dispersion
Sometimes, it is important to know how data is divided across a range. To elaborate this, consider the
average weight in a sample of two people. If both individuals are 60 kilos, the average weight will be 60
kg. However, if one individual is 50 kg and the other is 70 kg, the average weight is still 60 kg. Measures
of dispersion like range or standard deviation can be employed to measure this kind of distribution.
4. Measures of Position
Descriptive analysis also involves identifying the position of a single value or its response in relation to
others. Measures like percentiles and quartiles become very useful in this area of expertise.
Apart from it, if you’ve collected data on multiple variables, you can use the Bivariate or Multivariate descriptive
statistics to study whether there are relationships between them.
1. In bivariate analysis, you simultaneously study the frequency and variability of two different variables to see if
they seem to have a pattern and vary together. You can also test and compare the central tendency of the two
variables before carrying out further types of statistical analysis.
2. Multivariate analysis is the same as bivariate analysis but it is carried out for more than two variables.
Following 2 methods are for bivariate analysis.
a) Contingency table
In a contingency table, each cell represents the combination of the two variables. Naturally, an
independent variable (e.g., gender) is listed along the vertical axis and a dependent one is tallied along
the horizontal axis (e.g., activities). You need to read “across” the table to witness how the two
variables i.e. independent and dependent variables relate to each other.
Group 0–4 5–8 9–12 13–16 17+
Men 33 68 37 23 22
Women 36 48 44 83 25
A table showing a tally of different gender with number of activities
b) Scatter plots
A scatter plot is a chart that enables you to see the relationship between two or three different
variables. It’s a visual rendition of the strength of a relationship.
In a scatter plot, you are supposed to plot one variable along the x-axis and another one along the y-
axis. Each data point is denoted by a point in the chart.
Advantages of Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive analytics is the simplest form of data analysis, and involves summarizing a data set’s main features
and characteristics.
Descriptive analytics relies on statistical measures of distribution, central tendency, and variability.
It provides an overview of varied data types, from financial statements to surveys, website traffic, and scientific
data.
A key advantage of descriptive analytics is that it requires only basic math skills and allows you to present
otherwise complex data in an easily digestible format.
The main disadvantage of descriptive analytics is that it only summarizes data; it doesn’t draw conclusions or
test hypotheses.
We can use descriptive analytics to measure things like social media engagement, content curation, and learner
outcomes.
