Like any scientific discipline, data analysis follows a rigorous step-by-step process. Each stage requires different skills and know-how. To get meaningful insights, though, it’s important to understand the process as a whole. An underlying framework is invaluable for producing results that stand up to scrutiny.

In this post, we’ll explore the main steps in the data analysis process. This will cover how to define your goal, collect data, and carry out an analysis. Where applicable, we’ll also use examples and highlight a few tools to make the journey easier. When you’re done, you’ll have a much better understanding of the basics. This will help you tweak the process to fit your own needs.

Here are the steps we’ll take you through:

1. Defining the question
2. Collecting the data
3. Cleaning the data
4. Analyzing the data
5. Sharing your results
6. Embracing failure
7. Summary

On popular request, we’ve also developed a video based on this article. Scroll further along this article to watch that.