Harvard Business School Online's Business Insights Blog provides the career insights you need to achieve your goals and gain confidence in your business skills.
Data is ubiquitous. It’s collected at every purchase made, flight taken, ad clicked, and social media post liked—which means it’s never been more crucial to understand how to analyze it.
“Never before has so much data about so many different things been collected and stored every second of every day,” says Harvard Business School Professor Jan Hammond in the online course Business Analytics .
The volume of data you encounter can be overwhelming and raise several questions: Can I trust the data’s source? Is it structured in a way that makes sense? What story does it tell, and what actions does it prompt?
Data literacy and analytical skills can enable you to answer these questions and not only make sense of raw data, but use it to drive impactful change at your organization.
Here’s a look at what it means to be data literate and four ways to improve your analytical skills.
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Data literacy is the ability to analyze, interpret, and question data. A dataset is made up of numerous data points that, when viewed together, tell a story.
Before conducting an analysis, it’s important to ensure your data’s quality and structure is in accordance with your organization’s needs.
“In order to transform data into actionable information, you first need to evaluate its quality,” says Professor Dustin Tingley in the Harvard Online course Data Science Principles . “But evaluating the quality of your data is just the first step. You’ll also need to structure your data. Without structure, it’s nearly impossible to extract any information.”
When you’re able to look at quality data, structure it, and analyze it, trends emerge. The next step is to reflect on your analysis and take action.
Tingley shares several questions to ask yourself once you’ve analyzed your dataset: “Did all the steps I took make sense? If so, how should I respond to my analysis? If not, what should I go back and improve?”
For example, you may track users who click a button to download an e-book from your website.
After ensuring your data’s quality and structuring it in a way that makes sense, you begin your analysis and find that a user’s age is positively correlated with their likelihood to click. What story does this trend tell? What does it say about your users, product offering, and business strategy?
To answer these questions, you need strong analytical skills, which you can develop in several ways.
Related: Business Analytics: What It Is & Why It’s Important
Analysis is an important skill to have in any industry because it enables you to support decisions with data, learn more about your customers, and predict future trends.
Key analytical skills for business include:
If you want to provide meaningful conclusions and data-based recommendations to your team, here are four ways to bolster your analytical skills.
Related: How to Learn Business Analytics Without A Business Background
While engaging with opposing viewpoints can help you expand your perspective, combat bias, and show your fellow employees their opinions are valued, it can also be a useful way to practice analytical skills.
When analyzing data, it’s crucial to consider all possible interpretations and avoid getting stuck in one way of thinking.
For instance, revisit the example of tracking users who click a button on your site to download an e-book. The data shows that the user’s age is positively correlated with their likelihood to click the button; as age increases, downloads increase, too. At first glance, you may interpret this trend to mean that a user chooses to download the e-book because of their age.
This conclusion, however, doesn’t take into consideration the vast number of variables that change with age. For instance, perhaps the real reason your older users are more likely to download the e-book is their higher level of responsibility at work, higher average income, or higher likelihood of being parents.
This example illustrates the need to consider multiple interpretations of data, and specifically shows the difference between correlation (the trending of two or more variables in the same direction) and causation (when a trend in one variable causes a trend to occur in one or more other variables).
“Data science is built on a foundation of critical thinking,” Tingley says in Data Science Principles . “From the first step of determining the quality of a data source to determining the accuracy of an algorithm, critical thinking is at the heart of every decision data scientists—and those who work with them—make.”
To practice this skill, challenge yourself to question your assumptions and ask others for their opinions. The more you actively engage with different viewpoints, the less likely you are to get stuck in a one-track mindset when analyzing data.
If you’re looking to sharpen your skills on a daily basis, there are many simple, enjoyable ways to do so.
Games, puzzles, and stories that require visualizing relationships between variables, examining situations from multiple angles, and drawing conclusions from known data points can help you build the skills necessary to analyze data.
Some fun ways to practice analytical thinking include:
These options can supplement your analytics coursework and on-the-job experience. Some of them also allow you to spend time with friends or family. Try engaging with one each day to hone your analytical mindset.
Related: 3 Examples of Business Analytics in Action
Whether you want to learn the basics, brush up on your skills, or expand your knowledge, taking an analytics course is an effective way to improve. A course can enable you to focus on the content you want to learn, engage with the material presented by a professional in the field, and network and interact with others in the data analytics space.
For a beginner, courses like Harvard Online's Data Science Principles can provide a foundation in the language of data. A more advanced course, like Harvard Online's Data Science for Business , may be a fit if you’re looking to explore specific facets of analytics, such as forecasting and machine learning. If you’re interested in hands-on applications of analytical formulas, a course like HBS Online's Business Analytics could be right for you. The key is to understand what skills you hope to gain, then find a course that best fits your needs.
If you’re balancing a full-time job with your analytics education, an online format may be a good choice . It offers the flexibility to engage with course content whenever and wherever is most convenient for you.
An online course may also present the opportunity to network and build relationships with other professionals devoted to strengthening their analytical skills. A community of like-minded learners can prove to be an invaluable resource as you learn and advance your career.
Related: Is An Online Business Analytics Course Worth It?
Once you have a solid understanding of data science concepts and formulas, the next step is to practice. Like any skill, analytical skills improve the more you use them.
Mock datasets—which you can find online or create yourself—present a low-risk option for putting your skills to the test. Import the data into Microsoft Excel, then explore: make mistakes, try that formula you’re unsure of, and ask big questions of your dataset. By testing out different analyses, you can gain confidence in your knowledge.
Once you’re comfortable, engage with your organization’s data. Because these datasets have inherent meaning to your business's financial health, growth, and strategic direction, analyzing them can produce evidence and insights that support your decisions and drive change at your organization.
As data continues to be one of businesses’ most valuable resources, taking the time and effort to build and bolster your analytical skill set is vital.
“Much more data are going to be available; we’re only seeing the beginning now,” Hammond says in a previous article . “If you don’t use the data, you’re going to fall behind. People that have those capabilities—as well as an understanding of business contexts—are going to be the ones that will add the most value and have the greatest impact.”
Are you interested in furthering your data literacy? Download our Beginner’s Guide to Data & Analytics to learn how you can leverage the power of data for professional and organizational success.
You might associate problem-solving with the math exercises that a seven-year-old would do at school. But problem-solving isn’t just about math — it’s a crucial skill that helps everyone make better decisions in everyday life or work.
Problem-solving involves finding effective solutions to address complex challenges, in any context they may arise.
Unfortunately, structured and systematic problem-solving methods aren’t commonly taught. Instead, when solving a problem, PMs tend to rely heavily on intuition. While for simple issues this might work well, solving a complex problem with a straightforward solution is often ineffective and can even create more problems.
In this article, you’ll learn a framework for approaching problem-solving, alongside how you can improve your problem-solving skills.
When it comes to problem-solving there are seven key steps that you should follow: define the problem, disaggregate, prioritize problem branches, create an analysis plan, conduct analysis, synthesis, and communication.
Problem-solving begins with a clear understanding of the issue at hand. Without a well-defined problem statement, confusion and misunderstandings can hinder progress. It’s crucial to ensure that the problem statement is outcome-focused, specific, measurable whenever possible, and time-bound.
Additionally, aligning the problem definition with relevant stakeholders and decision-makers is essential to ensure efforts are directed towards addressing the actual problem rather than side issues.
Complex issues often require deeper analysis. Instead of tackling the entire problem at once, the next step is to break it down into smaller, more manageable components.
Various types of logic trees (also known as issue trees or decision trees) can be used to break down the problem. At each stage where new branches are created, it’s important for them to be “MECE” – mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. This process of breaking down continues until manageable components are identified, allowing for individual examination.
The decomposition of the problem demands looking at the problem from various perspectives. That is why collaboration within a team often yields more valuable results, as diverse viewpoints lead to a richer pool of ideas and solutions.
The next step involves prioritization. Not all branches of the problem tree have the same impact, so it’s important to understand the significance of each and focus attention on the most impactful areas. Prioritizing helps streamline efforts and minimize the time required to solve the problem.
For prioritized components, you may need to conduct in-depth analysis. Before proceeding, a work plan is created for data gathering and analysis. If work is conducted within a team, having a plan provides guidance on what needs to be achieved, who is responsible for which tasks, and the timelines involved.
Data gathering and analysis are central to the problem-solving process. It’s a good practice to set time limits for this phase to prevent excessive time spent on perfecting details. You can employ heuristics and rule-of-thumb reasoning to improve efficiency and direct efforts towards the most impactful work.
After each individual branch component has been researched, the problem isn’t solved yet. The next step is synthesizing the data logically to address the initial question. The synthesis process and the logical relationship between the individual branch results depend on the logic tree used.
The last step is communicating the story and the solution of the problem to the stakeholders and decision-makers. Clear effective communication is necessary to build trust in the solution and facilitates understanding among all parties involved. It ensures that stakeholders grasp the intricacies of the problem and the proposed solution, leading to informed decision-making.
While problem-solving has traditionally been associated with fields like engineering and science, today it has become a fundamental skill for individuals across all professions. In fact, problem-solving consistently ranks as one of the top skills required by employers.
Problem-solving techniques can be applied in diverse contexts:
Despite the variation in domains and contexts, the fundamental approach to solving these questions remains the same. It starts with gaining a clear understanding of the problem, followed by decomposition, conducting analysis of the decomposed branches, and synthesizing it into a result that answers the initial problem.
Let’s now explore some examples where we can apply the problem solving framework.
Problem: In the production of electronic devices, you observe an increasing number of defects. How can you reduce the error rate and improve the quality?
Before delving into analysis, you can deprioritize branches that you already have information for or ones you deem less important. For instance, while transportation delays may occur, the resulting material degradation is likely negligible. For other branches, additional research and data gathering may be necessary.
Once results are obtained, synthesis is crucial to address the core question: How can you decrease the defect rate?
While all factors listed may play a role, their significance varies. Your task is to prioritize effectively. Through data analysis, you may discover that altering the equipment would bring the most substantial positive outcome. However, executing a solution isn’t always straightforward. In prioritizing, you should consider both the potential impact and the level of effort needed for implementation.
By evaluating impact and effort, you can systematically prioritize areas for improvement, focusing on those with high impact and requiring minimal effort to address. This approach ensures efficient allocation of resources towards improvements that offer the greatest return on investment.
Problem : What should be my next job role?
When breaking down this problem, you need to consider various factors that are important for your future happiness in the role. This includes aspects like the company culture, our interest in the work itself, and the lifestyle that you can afford with the role.
However, not all factors carry the same weight for us. To make sense of the results, we can assign a weight factor to each branch. For instance, passion for the job role may have a weight factor of 1, while interest in the industry may have a weight factor of 0.5, because that is less important for you.
By applying these weights to a specific role and summing the values, you can have an estimate of how suitable that role is for you. Moreover, you can compare two roles and make an informed decision based on these weighted indicators.
This framework provides the foundation and guidance needed to effectively solve problems. However, successfully applying this framework requires the following:
Problem-solving requires practice and a certain mindset. The more you practice, the easier it becomes. Here are some strategies to enhance your skills:
Problem-solving extends far beyond mathematics or scientific fields; it’s a critical skill for making informed decisions in every area of life and work. The seven-step framework presented here provides a systematic approach to problem-solving, relevant across various domains.
Now, consider this: What’s one question currently on your mind? Grab a piece of paper and try to apply the problem-solving framework. You might uncover fresh insights you hadn’t considered before.
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Analysis & problem solving are necessary to navigate everyday life, especially in a world of echo-chambers and #fakenews . through analysis, we seek to fully understand issues and uncover potential solutions. so keep reading for insights into how these skills can be developed…, what is analysis & problem solving and why is it important .
Analysis and Problem Solving is the ability to critically evaluate data and use judgement to work through issues. It involves spotting connections between data. And essentially, involves seeing and actioning solutions effectively.
Firstly, Analysis is about being objective. And looking for evidence to support the conclusions we reach. Ultimately to improve judgement. And good analysis helps us to keep in check important cognitive shortcuts that can often impair our judgements– our biases.
We all have biases. When left unmanaged, biases are very problematic. One common bias, the Halo Effect , leads us to amplify the positive aspects of people. For example, thinking because a person is attractive, they’ll automatically be a good person. By building an analytical mindset, we can manage our biases, make better decisions and effectively solve problems.
The goal is to problem-solve on the basis of objective evidence, not sentiment. Emotions and biases cloud our judgement. So it’s essential to probe the evidence, determine what’s fact from fiction. Good analysis helps us to do this.
At the outset of your career, you’re likely to be given tasks or problems to solve. A good determinant of how successful you’ll be in problem solving or delivering tasks is your ability to conduct strong analysis.
Naturally, over time, the problems you’ll deal with will become increasingly complex. So, it’s good to get in the habit of conducting thorough, evidence-based analysis early on.
First, focus on identifying relevant information. Is there data, facts, evidence available to help you analyse? Be careful too, it’s easy to waste time with interesting yet ultimately irrelevant data.
During this time, you’ll be getting to grips with the role, workplace and your colleagues. So you’ll have all sorts of information to handle. This makes it even more important to focus on what really matters to the task at hand.
Ask questions for a better understanding of what you’re trying to solve. Seek others’ views and opinions. This is important for ensuring others trust and engage with you. But your priority should be on building a picture of problems, built of evidence and data.
Test assumptions to decipher and challenge the myths. In a world of fake news, critical thinking is integral to analysis and problem solving. Sometimes can be as simple as reviewing problems again after a break. Ask yourself: what am I assuming here? What is really going? W hat might I have missed before?
Exercise lateral thinking. Think outside the box and to look at problems from different perspectives. For example, if you’re a product designer it’s effective to interact with product from the perspective of users, suppliers and distributors.
Beware of overconfidence . Both your own and that of others. Don’t just expect your managers or seniors to be correct, examine the source of data. Also, get a handle on the different types of biases that hinder analysis . Think about which biases you might be prone to.
Essentially, it’s about having your research hat on. So stay alert and conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis as appropriate. Try testing yourself to build your capacity for spotting trends and patterns in complex problems. Logical or abstract reasoning tests can be a great one to start with.
So as you gain more experience in dealing with analysis, you’ll become better at problem-solving. Often the more senior your role is means the more responsibility you have, thus more potential problems.
With experience, you’ll start to more routinely tune-in to the workplace. Y ou’ll be aware of issues brewing beneath the surface, like office politics. And you will analyse and navigate underlying issues like this when problem-solving.
By its very nature, you’re dealing with more data, more information, more stakeholders and more pressure. So your ability to analyse despite additional distractions is truly put to the test. However, you may now have the opportunity to delegate tasks.
And if the option of help is there – grab it with both hands! The variety of information you’re dealing with grows with increasing responsibility. It’s easy to think you can continue to effectively analyse as you once did with a more focused workload, but don’t be fooled. We all have limits. We have to prioritise our attention. Pick what and when we analyse.
As you take more of a lead on problems, help others to think critically. Point out the evidence, data or facts underpinning your judgements. And ask them to critically evaluate them too.
More and more, leaders will want to see depth in your analysis and evidence that your ideas are future-proofed. They’ll ask to see the business case for any recommendations you make. So prioritise building strong rationale in business cases and focus on testing assumptions and iterating your solutions. Build prototypes or minimal viable products (MVPs) to truly stress test your ideas or judgements.
Develop a process for problem solving. Try to implement systems to seek, analyse, formulate solutions and evaluate outcomes. Building loops like this can help create habits and make analysis more seamless.
You could use tools to appraise data quickly. Or you can work with specialists in evaluating big data. In the future we’ll be using more tools to analyse complex and diverse data. So get ahead of the curb, by building you capacity for interpreting data now.
No matter what career stage you’re at, there will be problems to solve. This is especially the case when you’re in a position of leadership. A good leader is both demonstrator and facilitator of strong analysis and problem-solving skills.
At this stage you’ll likely be responsible for the management of a team and the big picture of the organisation. Ultimately, you’ll need to lead by example and set the tone for your team when problem-solving.
Leaders are expected to be decisive. And good decisions are made by harnessing the power of an analytical mindset to collect and decipher data and information. No knee-jerk reactions, but thoughtful and strategic responses. Here are some pointers on how you can do this:
Use patterns and trends to uncover longer term opportunities and draw potential conclusions. This could relate to commercial thinking when looking for financially beneficial opportunities.
Recognise and respond strategically to the pressures faced by your people. Engage with your team and look at how you can improve processes, wellbeing and overall productivity.
Consistently build and review your awareness of new technologies shaping the way things might be done in the future. Stay in the know and beware of the fads. It’s about choosing what is best to pursue.
Increase your awareness and use of Systems Thinking . Identify the links between different tasks and functions. Then evaluate on the basis of seeing things in a system, rather than treating issues in isolation.
Say what you think. Share your thought-process openly. Be a thought-leader, create an open space for sharing thoughts and your team will contribute. This ultimately increases potential collaboration, empowers the team and teases out team-working issues.
Whatever walk of life or occupation, your chances of success will improve along with your capacity for analysis and problem solving. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been around for a while, these skills are needed at every stage.
And analysis is important in our interpersonal interactions, as it is for regular tasks. There are always instances where you might need to read between the lines of what someone is saying. And to identify what’s really going on, beneath the conversation’s surface.
Additionally, the more hands-on experience we have with problems, the better we’ll be at finding solutions. So maybe we should schedule some time for ‘brain-training’ exercises like Sudoku? Although there isn’t any conclusive evidence to suggest games like Sudoku substantially improve our problem-solving abilities, the regular exposure to problems tests us and builds confidence.
So if you’re looking to build up your analysis and problem solving skills, set up a spotlight on the WiseAmigo app . Doing this will help you stay on track with your development, and get inspired along the way.
And once you’ve nailed Analysis and Problem Solving, you’ll be in a better place to think strategically, commercially and manage conflict better too.
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Analytical skills examples, how to show your analytical skills on your resume, how to talk about your analytical skills in an interview, how to improve your analytical skills, analytics at work: the bottom line, what are analytical skills definition and examples.
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If you’re looking for a job in 2024, chances are you’ll need stellar analytical skills. Analytical skills help you assess information and facts, problem-solve, and implement the best solutions. According to LinkedIn , they’re one of the top 10 most in-demand soft skills of 2024. So, what are some analytical skills examples and how can you improve yours?
Analytical skills are the skills you use to make decisions and find solutions to problems. In the workplace, an analytical person helps the company problem-solve by breaking down information; looking through data and finding patterns, trends, and outliers; brainstorming new ideas; and making decisions on what solutions to implement.
If you’re like me, you might be thinking that analytical skills are usually just for data-heavy or analytical roles. But even as a more creative professional — working on writing and marketing — I’ve learned analytical skills are crucial to essentially any role. For example, I use analytical skills to understand which of my articles are performing well and which ones aren’t to help inform what I’ll write about next. Even though my primary role is to write content, analytical skills are key to prioritizing my work and ensuring what I’m writing is successful.
Companies hire people to help them solve problems, and analytical skills are what you use to do just that. You can use analytical skills in the workplace:
Apply analytical skills in HR to analyze compensation data and make recommendations to managers about which employees should receive pay rises or adjustments.
Avg. Time: 3-4 hours
Skills you’ll build: Process mapping, empowering with insights, feedback giving, continuous improvement tools
While analytical skills are a type of soft skill, you may apply hard skills to help you become a better analytical thinker. Analytical skills examples include data analysis, logical thinking, research, creativity, and communication.
>>MORE: Discover the right career for you based on your skills with a career aptitude test .
Data analytics is a hard skill where you look at data to put numbers behind answers to questions or potential solutions. For example, you might use data analytics to answer what products have had the most success during the summer vs. winter months, or to create charts or graphs that show the company’s recent financial performance.
You don’t need to be a data analyst to use data analytics in your everyday work; in fact, it’s a valuable asset to your skill set to ensure the impact of your work, no matter what you do. Going back to my example of using data to help me understand article performance, being able to pull this data on my own and synthesize it into results and learnings is crucial for showing whether I’m performing well at work. Anyone can benefit from knowing how to pull and visualize the proof that their work is having an impact!
Examples of data analytics skills include:
Logical thinking is when you use reason to analyze a situation and come up with a solution. There are a few different types of logical thinking, including:
For example, as a writer on a marketing team, I might use logical thinking, and specifically inductive reasoning, by taking action based on a specific trend I notice about my company’s audience. I may notice a specific pattern — for instance, that our audience is clicking on stories that have investment banking skills in them. Then, I could make the general conclusion that our audience values investment banking content. I would then test my hypothesis by writing more content on that topic, and hopefully increase our audience in the process.
Analytical people seek all the facts and information before coming to a conclusion. A smart researcher knows where to find those facts and who to ask for help to get more information.
In the workplace, you might apply research skills to discover facts about the company’s history, like conducting a reflective analysis, and showing the company’s progress over the last five years. You could also do more qualitative research , and speak to colleagues in other departments to understand how a problem is affecting their team, or even set up an informational interview with an outside expert to learn from their experience.
Examples of research analytical skills include:
Analytical skills aren’t just about facts and figures; they also require creativity to brainstorm solutions and possible answers to problems. Creativity helps analytical people move away from the small points and think big picture.
In the workplace, you might use creative thinking to organize a brainstorm with team members, or to propose product improvements based on a client survey. You could also use it to present information to stakeholders in a new, exciting way, or to create a new brand design for your company’s website. Creative thinking can be applied to numerous industries, even in more data-heavy or analytical roles.
Examples of analytical creativity skills include:
Use creative thinking skills to generate ideas to help a fictional luxury clothing company increase sales revenue.
Avg. Time: 1-2 hours
Skills you’ll build: Critical thinking, creativity, brainstorming
Your analytical thinking won’t have an impact unless you share it with the team; however, not everyone can easily understand data or analytical problem-solving. Communication skills help you translate complex analytical ideas into digestible, actionable takeaways for the rest of your team.
For example, you can use communication skills to explain a data visualization to team members and help them understand company performance, or to present high-level findings from a data exercise or statistical analysis.
Examples of analytical communication skills include:
There are two types of ways to show your analytical skills on your resume: listing your hard skills in a “skills” section or explaining your analytical skills in your “experience” section.
“For early professionals, definitely showing the tools, the technical skills, and also projects you’ve worked on is important,” Kristen Rice, product manager, website growth at Sprout Social, says. “If you don’t have a particular project in mind or that you can share, showcase ideas that you do have around analytics. If you use a type of code such as SQL, Python, R etc., that is huge because businesses seek to automate analyses a lot quicker and there is an increasing need to connect data that doesn’t always share the same foundation. These different programming languages allow for the ability to do those things.”
For example, if you used your data analytics skills in a finance internship , you could write:
Used SQL queries to extract data and create reports that helped the team decrease surplus spending by 13% MoM.
Even if you’re talking about soft skills, you should include the impact your skills had. For example, as a writer, I might write something like:
Log in to download a customizable resume template with examples of how to include analytical skills:
You don’t need to know multiple coding languages or analytics programs to show off your analytical skills. You can also show analytical thinking through how you describe your problem-solving methods and approach at work.
In the interview , use the STAR method to show how you apply analytical skills and the impact your skills had. Even if you’re talking about soft skills, get specific about programs, tactics, or methodology you use when solving problems. This will give the interviewer a clear picture of how you work and problem-solve.
For example, you might be asked about your decision-making process at work. You can respond with something like:
My decision-making process usually starts with gathering all the information I know about the problem, whether that’s by researching, collaborating with other teams, or performing data analysis. Once I have a better understanding of the problem, I’ll then share this information with my coworkers and ask them to brainstorm with me. After that, I’ll perform a risk analysis of all of the solutions we brainstormed and make a final decision on the best path forward.
>>MORE: Analytical Skills Interview Questions (and Answers)
Practice answering some of the most common interview questions.
Avg. Time: 4-5 hours
Skills you’ll build: Public speaking, poise, presentation, communication
Even though some technical skills are involved in analytical thinking, much of analytical thinking relies on your soft skills — which means it’s harder to know how to be a better analytical thinker. However, by understanding your current problem-solving process and asking others about theirs, you’ll start to hone your analytical skills.
It isn’t easy to assess your current skill level if you don’t know how you currently use analytical thinking, even in your everyday life. The next time you approach a problem, even something like figuring out what to wear to dinner with friends, ask yourself:
To use the dinner example, maybe you consider factors like the weather and the restaurant’s dress code when deciding what to wear. You might look up the weather using an app and research the restaurant online to see what the vibe is. Then, maybe you pull out a few options and try them on to see what you’re comfortable wearing.
This decision-making process might seem simple, but it’s a true skill! Improving your analytical skills starts with understanding how you uniquely solve problems.
Learning from people around you can help you identify the problems they’re working on and show you how they may solve problems. You might learn about new resources or tools, or even just methods and tricks they use at work.
“ Network with people in roles that you’re interested in,” Rice recommends. “I’ve connected with people on LinkedIn who are resources for me, internally at my organization I’ve had the opportunity to learn from our data science, data engineering, and business analytics team, and I also try to attend events or webinars that are geared towards analytics to build my knowledge and connections as well.”
An analytical thinker will take in facts, do their research, brainstorm creative solutions, narrow down to the most logical one, and reflect on their solutions after the decision was made to learn for the next time. There’s no better way to improve your skills than to put yourself into situations where you need to exercise your analytical skills — whether that’s doing something simple like logic puzzles, or even putting yourself in a professional’s shoes and pretending you have to make a big company decision. Practice walking through these steps when you problem-solve and make a decision, whether big or small.
It can be hard to know what it’s like to use analytical skills in the workplace if you’ve never had a full-time job before. With Forage job simulations, you can get free access to real-world work problems to practice using your analytical skills in a professional context.
Apply your analytical skills to real-world work situations in whatever industry interests you:
Conduct analysis on suitable M&A targets to advise your client, WorldWide Brewing Co., on how to expand their operations in Asia | |
Analyze data about accounts to identify key trends and opportunities for sales growth and communicate your insights. | |
Assist in the audit planning process and communicate insights to the client. | |
Analyze the outcomes of an FOMC meeting and pitch a trade to your client. |
Analytical skills help you dig into problems and come out with facts-based solutions. While some technical skills like data analysis and visualization are elements of analytical skills, there are also soft skills like creativity and communication that are essential to being an effective analytical thinker.
No matter what kinds of analytical skills you have, show them off on your resume and in the interview by detailing your unique, informative analytical problem-solving process.
Examples of analytical skills include data analytics, research, logical thinking, creativity, and communication. There are hard analytical skills, like data analytics, that help you use numbers to answer business questions, but also soft analytical skills, like creativity, that help you brainstorm potential solutions.
You can demonstrate analytical skills on your resume by either listing out data tools you use in a skills section or by describing scenarios in which you’ve used analytical skills in your experience section. In an interview, be sure to clearly outline what the problem was, who you worked with, any tools you used, and how your analytical skills led to the right solution.
Analytical skills can be hard or soft skills. Analytical hard skills are typically data or other tech tools that help you use numbers to answer questions or find solutions. Soft analytical skills are the ones you use when you’re thinking about how to solve a problem and how you figure out what strategic action to take.
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One technique that is extremely useful to gain a better understanding of the problems before determining a solution is problem analysis .
Problem analysis is the process of understanding real-world problems and user’s needs and proposing solutions to meet those needs. The goal of problem analysis is to gain a better understanding of the problem being solved before developing a solution.
There are five useful steps that can be taken to gain a better understanding of the problem before developing a solution.
Gain agreement on the problem definition.
The first step is to gain agreement on the definition of the problem to be solved. One of the simplest ways to gain agreement is to simply write the problem down and see whether everyone agrees.
A helpful and standardised format to write the problem definition is as follows:
There are many problems statement examples that can be found in different business domains and during the discovery when the business analyst is conducting analysis. An example business problem statement is as follows:
The problem of having to manually maintain an accurate single source of truth for finance product data across the business, affects the finance department. The results of which has the impact of not having to have duplicate data, having to do workarounds and difficulty of maintaining finance product data across the business and key channels. A successful solution would have the benefit of providing a single source of truth for finance product data that can be used across the business and channels and provide an audit trail of changes, stewardship and maintain data standards and best practices.
You can use a variety of techniques to gain an understanding of the real problem and its real causes. One such popular technique is root cause analysis, which is a systematic way of uncovering the root or underlying cause of an identified problem or a symptom of a problem.
Root cause analysis helps prevents the development of solutions that are focussed on symptoms alone .
To help identify the root cause, or the problem behind the problem, ask the people directly involved.
The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question “Why?” . Each answer forms the basis of the next question. The “five” in the name derives from an anecdotal observation on the number of iterations needed to resolve the problem .
Effectively solving any complex problem typically involves satisfying the needs of a diverse group of stakeholders. Stakeholders typically have varying perspectives on the problem and various needs that must be addressed by the solution. So, involving stakeholders will help you to determine the root causes to problems.
Once the problem statement is agreed to and the users and stakeholders are identified, we can turn our attention of defining a solution that can be deployed to address the problem.
We must consider the constraints that will be imposed on the solution. Each constraint has the potential to severely restrict our ability to deliver a solution as we envision it.
Some example solution constraints and considerations could be:-
Try the five useful steps for problem solving when your next trying to gain a better understanding of the problem domain on your business analysis project or need to do problem analysis in software engineering.
The problem statement format can be used in businesses and across industries.
Jerry Nicholas
Jerry continues to maintain the site to help aspiring and junior business analysts and taps into the network of experienced professionals to accelerate the professional development of all business analysts. He is a Principal Business Analyst who has over twenty years experience gained in a range of client sizes and sectors including investment banking, retail banking, retail, telecoms and public sector. Jerry has mentored and coached business analyst throughout his career. He is a member of British Computer Society (MBCS), International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), Business Agility Institute, Project Management Institute (PMI), Disciplined Agile Consortium and Business Architecture Guild. He has contributed and is acknowledged in the book: Choose Your WoW - A Disciplined Agile Delivery Handbook for Optimising Your Way of Working (WoW).
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Effectiveness of the flipped project-based learning model based on moodle lms to improve student communication and problem-solving skills in learning programming.
Research questions.
2.1. design, 2.2. participants, survey instruments, and data collection.
2.4. data analysis, 3. results and analysis, 3.1. results, 3.1.1. the application of the flipped project-based learning model leads to a significant improvement in problem-solving and communication skills, 3.1.2. differences in problem-solving abilities and communication skills between the experimental group employing the flipped project-based learning model and the control group using blended learning, 3.1.3. addressing the research questions, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.
Click here to enlarge figure
No | Variable | Statement |
---|---|---|
1 | Understanding the Problem | 1–6 |
2 | Planning to solve the problem | 7–12 |
3 | Carrying Out the Plan | 13–19 |
4 | Evaluation | 20–25 |
No | Variable | Statement | Reference |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Impact of Moodle-Based Flipped Learning | 1–3 | [ ] |
2 | Perception of Moodle-based LMS | 4–6 | [ ] |
3 | Attitudes towards Inclusive Education | 7–9 | [ ] |
4 | Educational Environment and Student Experiences | 10–12 | [ ] |
No | Class | Variable | Validity Value | Reliability Value |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Experimental | Pre-Test Problem Solving | Pearson Correlation value (r-count) > 0.339 (r-table) | 0.901 |
Post-Test Problem Solving | 0.857 | |||
Pre-Test Communication Skills | 0.882 | |||
Post-Test Communication Skills | 0.879 | |||
2 | Control | Pre-Test Problem Solving | 0.892 | |
Post-Test Problem Solving | 0.882 | |||
Pre-Test Communication Skills | 0.850 | |||
Post-Test Communication Skills | 0.832 |
Tests of Normality | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Statistic | Df | Sig. | |
Pre-test | Experiment Class | 0.113 | 35 | 0.200 * |
Control Class | 0.134 | 34 | 0.130 | |
Post-test | Experiment Class | 0.145 | 35 | 0.059 |
Control Class | 0.139 | 34 | 0.094 |
Tests of Normality | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Statistic | Df | Sig. | |
Pre-test | Experiment Class | 0.074 | 35 | 0.200 * |
Control Class | 0.073 | 34 | 0.200 * | |
Post-test | Experiment Class | 0.106 | 35 | 0.200 * |
Control Class | 0.090 | 34 | 0.200 * |
Test of Homogeneity of Variance | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Levene Statistic | df1 | df2 | Sig. | ||
Pre-test | Based on Mean | 0.114 | 1 | 67 | 0.737 |
Post-test | Based on Mean | 2.676 | 1 | 67 | 0.107 |
Test of Homogeneity of Variance | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Levene Statistic | df1 | df2 | Sig. | ||
Early | Based on Mean | 0.104 | 1 | 67 | 0.748 |
End | Based on Mean | 0.237 | 1 | 67 | 0.628 |
Paired Samples Statistics | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | N | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | ||
Pair 1 | Post-test | 74.5143 | 35 | 20.44414 | 3.45569 |
Pre-test | 58.5143 | 35 | 27.06134 | 4.57420 |
Paired Samples Test | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Paired Differences | |||||||
Mean | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | t | df | Sig. (2-Tailed) | ||
Pair 1 | Post-test − Pre-test | 16.00000 | 16.17551 | 2.73416 | 5.852 | 34 | 0.000 |
Paired Samples Statistics | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | N | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | ||
Pair 1 | End | 42.0000 | 35 | 3.87298 | 0.65465 |
Early | 34.6000 | 35 | 4.33318 | 0.73244 |
Paired Samples Test | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Paired Differences | |||||||
Mean | Std. Deviation | Std. Error Mean | t | df | Sig. (2-Tailed) | ||
7.40000 | 4.20224 | 0.71031 | 10.418 | 34 |
Independent Samples Test | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
t-Test for Equality of Means | |||||
t | df | Sig. (2-Tailed) | Mean Difference | ||
Pre-test | Equal variances assumed | −0.456 | 67 | 0.650 | −2.89748 |
Post-test | Equal variances assumed | 2.107 | 67 | 0.039 | 11.45546 |
Independent Samples Test | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
t-Test for Equality of Means | |||||
t | df | Sig. (2-Tailed) | Mean Difference | ||
Pre-test | Equal variances assumed | −1.493 | 67 | 0.140 | −1.54706 |
Post-test | Equal variances assumed | 4.039 | 67 | 0.000 | 3.67647 |
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
Ruslan, R.; Lu’mu, L.; Fakhri, M.M.; Ahmar, A.S.; Fadhilatunisa, D. Effectiveness of the Flipped Project-Based Learning Model Based on Moodle LMS to Improve Student Communication and Problem-Solving Skills in Learning Programming. Educ. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 1021. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14091021
Ruslan R, Lu’mu L, Fakhri MM, Ahmar AS, Fadhilatunisa D. Effectiveness of the Flipped Project-Based Learning Model Based on Moodle LMS to Improve Student Communication and Problem-Solving Skills in Learning Programming. Education Sciences . 2024; 14(9):1021. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14091021
Ruslan, Ruslan, Lu’mu Lu’mu, M. Miftach Fakhri, Ansari Saleh Ahmar, and Della Fadhilatunisa. 2024. "Effectiveness of the Flipped Project-Based Learning Model Based on Moodle LMS to Improve Student Communication and Problem-Solving Skills in Learning Programming" Education Sciences 14, no. 9: 1021. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14091021
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