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Established 2009

Data Mining

Data mining is a relatively new branch of computer science that involves looking for meaningful patterns in large data sets. It can involve a combination of traditional and new data analysis techniques, including standard statistical tools and machine learning algorithms.

The particular data mining tools used in given situation depend upon factors such as:

  • What types of data are available
  • How much (i.e., how many individual records) of data is available
  • The marketing-related (or other type of) goals of the project

Data mining excels where traditional statistics leaves off. It is particularly useful and appropriate when the following conditions are present:

  • The project involves the analysis of large data sets that potentially contain a lot of noise (or erroneous data)
  • The project designers or business managers are unsure as to which variables might be predictive of a particular outcome
  • There is a desire to group like records together based upon some attribute or variable

The result of a data mining exercise can include the classification of certain subsets of the data into new, as-yet-unforeseen categories. It can also result in the determination of which variables or combinations of variables matter in terms of being predictors for a given outcome ? and how much.

Contact MindEcology today to get started.