Data Mining For Dummies

Delve into your data for the key to success

Data mining is quickly becoming integral to creating value and business momentum. The ability to detect unseen patterns hidden in the numbers exhaustively generated by day-to-day operations allows savvy decision-makers to exploit every tool at their disposal in the pursuit of better business. By creating models and testing whether patterns hold up, it is possible to discover new intelligence that could change your business’s entire paradigm for a more successful outcome.

Data Mining for Dummies shows you why it doesn’t take a data scientist to gain this advantage, and empowers average business people to start shaping a process relevant to their business’s needs. In this book, you’ll learn the hows and whys of mining to the depths of your data, and how to make the case for heavier investment into data mining capabilities. The book explains the details of the knowledge discovery process including:

• Model creation, validity testing, and interpretation
• Effective communication of findings
• Available tools, both paid and open-source
• Data selection, transformation, and evaluation

Data Mining for Dummies takes you step-by-step through a real-world data-mining project using open-source tools that allow you to get immediate hands-on experience working with large amounts of data. You’ll gain the confidence you need to start making data mining practices a routine part of your successful business. If you’re serious about doing everything you can to push your company to the top, Data Mining for Dummies is your ticket to effective data mining.

Table of Contents

Part I: Getting Started with Data Mining
Chapter 1: Catching the Data-Mining Train
Chapter 2: A Day in Your Life as a Data Miner
Chapter 3: Teaming Up to Reach Your Goals

Part II: Exploring Data-Mining Mantras and Methods
Chapter 4: Learning the Laws of Data Mining
Chapter 5: Embracing the Data-Mining Process
Chapter 6: Planning for Data-Mining Success
Chapter 7: Gearing Up with the Right Software

Part III: Gathering the Raw Materials
Chapter 8: Digging into Your Data
Chapter 9: Making New Data
Chapter 10: Ferreting Out Public Data Sources
Chapter 11: Buying Data

Part IV: A Data Miner’s Survival Kit
Chapter 12: Getting Familiar with Your Data
Chapter 13: Dealing in Graphic Detail
Chapter 14: Showing Your Data Who’s Boss
Chapter 15: Your Exciting Career in Modeling

Part V: More Data-Mining Methods
Chapter 16: Data Mining Using Classic Statistical Methods
Chapter 17: Mining Data for Clues
Chapter 18: Expanding Your Horizons

Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 19: Ten Great Resources for Data Miners
Chapter 20: Ten Useful Kinds of Analysis That Complement Data Mining

Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: Data-Mining Sof tware Sources
Appendix C: Major Data Vendors
Appendix D: Sources and Citations