Probably a better way

I analyse data. When faced with data in spreadsheets, a typical first-step analysis approach is to organise the rows and columns with Excel formulas to produce averages that feed into bar plots. If one has time, a measure of variance (error bars) can be included. An assumption I hold is that most of data analysis is the organisation and management of said data. Ensuring that data is in a particular format will permit an applied algorithm to crunch the numbers in an automated fashion to produce a fancy plot (with error bars).

In this time of "data science" and "big data" (I'm not entirely sure what these terms mean) I am continually questioning if my approach to data analysis is the most efficient (or "correct"). When faced with a programming hurdle, I usually land on answers via Google, write/modify code, then continue until the next hurdle. Whilst I get the job done, I'd love to know if there's better way to work with data.

This blog is a collection of data analysis, management and programming work I conduct across various contexts. I'll refrain from posting lines of code. Instead, I'll describe my approach to solve a particular problem. I suspect that most readers would find my initial solutions haphazard, off-the-mark, inefficient, or possibly cute. That’s OK – I'm hoping readers will provide an alternative method to make life a little bit easier.

In addition, this blog may help me write more awesome-like.