Week 4 recap

This week we dove head first into the actual marketing metrics we will use and how they pertain to analytics. The OREO company example helped us bring together what we have learned in the past of thinking like a data scientist and then now what we are being introduced to with cross tab tables, different variable components, and regression. Learning about cross tabs was a huge aid in furthering my knowledge of how to separate variables and metrics. They are very helpful in showing how clear numbers can be if you just put them into context and then compare them. They also helped solidify what nominal and ordinal data is. Nominal is something that is categorical such as male or female and the central tendency measure is mode. Ordinal is a sequential category that can be greater than or less than the other and its measure of central tendency is the median. Other then these two concepts, there is interval or ratio data which is strictly numbers, no categories. The central measure of tendency for this is the mean. All of this then comes around to regression. Regression is basically how to explain why the dependent variable varies. It explains behavior and predicts behavior. This is important because it outlines the relationship between the variables. Being able to do this then furthers your ability to interpret the data in the most efficient and effective way possible. Over the summer I worked as a camp counselor and I was fortunate enough to work in the office with my boss to learn some of the in's and out's of how a business quantifies data. My boss actually used regression lines weekly to show how the camp was growing or declining in each age group, sport, and state by state. She would lay out the weekly data at the end of the month and then infer over time how the variables coincided. Now knowing the information we learned this week about regression and regression coefficients, I was able to further understand how important it is to pay attention to every variable and they effect each other.