I love numbers—for various reasons. Most germane to this post is that I think that finding numerical patterns makes me feel like I have some control over things, although—to be sure!—such an approach is illusory at best, and misleading, at worst.
Nonetheless, finding real or apparent numerical relationships in the Universe is interesting and comforting.
So, finding this link that advises that visualizing relationships in data is not the same as analysis was quite welcome.
Too often, it seems, practitioners of the technical arts conclude that because they are able to visualize relationships, their job is done.
Not so. It’s only the beginning.
Questions: Do you substitute data for information? How do you know when you’ve done enough analysis to draw a conclusion? What false leads might you be susceptible to, such that your conclusions (if drawn at all) may be erroneous or misleading? How can you protect against such?