Reflections on the data analytics work

What is one key learning take away from your research work?
The key take away for my research work is to understand the story behind data; only then could we develop valuable insight. For example, different programs have different targeting participants with different behavior patterns. We need to know what causes these differences and what kinds of analysis could have potential value. The best way to understand is to communicate with people who are more familiar with the problem.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced while you work?
The biggest challenge I have faced while working is how to effectively deliver the analytical findings to an audience with business/management background. On one hand, the findings are in most cases not conclusive, which is the nature of real-world data. On the other hand, it would be more important to discuss more about the logic and business insight instead of algorithms. So the presentation techniques are critical.

What excites you most in your research work?
The most exciting part is to know our work is actually making an impact. Our suggestions for data collection, payment collection, marketing strategies, our findings of participants’ activity pattern, and our suggestions for the future prediction and matching system will make CBS ExecEd as a whole a more efficient platform, and boost the revenue.

Pick one image that best describes the nature of research work you have done.
This picture is a word cloud for research, which corresponds with my text analysis study. Research is an exploratory process and researchers will develop a comprehensive set of skills. It is challenging, rewarding and really thought provoking.