There are a half-dozen popular types of data analysis available today, commonly employed in the worlds of technology and business. They are: 

• Diagnostic Analysis. Diagnostic analysis answers the question, “Why did this happen?” Using insights gained from statistical analysis (more on that later!), analysts use diagnostic analysis to identify patterns in data. Ideally, the analysts find similar patterns that existed in the past, and consequently, use those solutions to resolve the present challenges hopefully.
• Predictive Analysis. Predictive analysis answers the question, “What is most likely to happen?” By using patterns found in older data as well as current events, analysts predict future events. While there’s no such thing as 100 percent accurate forecasting, the odds improve if the analysts have plenty of detailed information and the discipline to research it thoroughly.
• Prescriptive Analysis. Mix all the insights gained from the other data analysis types, and you have prescriptive analysis. Sometimes, an issue can’t be solved solely with one analysis type, and instead requires multiple insights.
• Statistical Analysis. Statistical analysis answers the question, “What happened?” This analysis covers data collection, analysis, modeling, interpretation, and presentation using dashboards. The statistical analysis breaks down into two sub-categories:

o   Descriptive. Descriptive analysis works with either complete or selections of summarized numerical data. It illustrates means and deviations in continuous data and percentages and frequencies in categorical data.

o   Inferential. Inferential analysis works with samples derived from complete data. An analyst can arrive at different conclusions from the same comprehensive data set just by choosing different samplings.

• Text Analysis. Also called “data mining,” text analysis uses databases and data mining tools to discover patterns residing in large datasets. It transforms raw data into useful business information. Text analysis is arguably the most straightforward and the most direct method of data analysis.

Next, we will get into the depths to understand about the data analysis methods.