Page 44 - SPECTRUM
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‘Big data’ has become a buzz word in the tech world due to its ability to
provide results that businesses can glean. However due to presence of
such large datasets, the need of proper tools to parse through them in or-
der to distinguish the Right data from Wrong data has been felt. For deep-
er insights into the datasets of big data, the fields of data analytics and
data science have emerged and are now an integral part of Business Intel-
ligence. Due to closeness and similarity of work fields, these two terms are
often mistaken to be the same thing. For understanding the fundamental
differences between them, one needs to start from the definition itself.
‘Data Science’ is a heterogeneous field relying on scientific processes and
complex algorithms to extract relevant material from raw, unstructured data.
It is related to big data mining. Data science concentrates on effective methods
to capture, interpret, and organize data, the final product of which, through
statistical analysis, helps uncover actionable insights for existing issues.
Whereas ‘Data Analytics’ includes discovery, comprehension, and communi-
cation of significant patterns in assembled data, which aids in effective deci-
sion-making. It involves the simultaneous application of statistics, computer
programming, and operations research to appraise the performance of a firm.
These definitions still might not be enough for a layman to understand the ex-
act difference. What can’t be solved through definitions can be solved through
better understanding the kind of work that data scientists and data analysts
are supposed to do. Data scientists know what questions must be asked to lead
the company in what direction, while data analysts find answers to these ques-
tions and determine which route to success is the best. Data science points to-
wards the foundations and helps dissect big datasets to initiate observations,
while Data analytics work on the realization of potential acumen and use this
information in many applications, software and otherwise. The kinds of work
available in Data science are Data Scientist, Machine learning Engineer, Ap-
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