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INTRODUCTION
Inevitably, we live in an era of big data and all parties involved have their challenges to deal with:
- stakeholders — their challenge is data-driven decision-making. They need to know how to use the data they have to make big impactful decisions. This challenge exists in a space of so much volatility and changes on a global scale. Sometimes data analysts don’t talk in layman’s terms. They don’t explain it simply. Stakeholders have issues understanding their data. The company simply isn’t too data-driven.
- Data analysts — how to make sense of all that noise coming from data sources, marketing systems, CRMs, and databases. They need to be the right hand for the stakeholders. They help them with their data-driven decision-making. They guide them through data-driven insights.
- Customers — these days, we have too many options to buy products and services. We are having difficulties choosing the best choice. These days, we have too many options to buy products and services. We are having difficulties deciding on the best choice. Loyalty with the big brands is no longer popular. At least, it is not as long-term as it was in the past. The whole package is being reviewed — price, product, quality, promotion, and warranty. Depending on which generation you belong to, you must even pay extra attention to the company’s reputation. You might decide to not buy anything from them.
- marketing department — on the other hand, because some customers can be so versatile and not have hard loyalty towards the company, it is making it harder to create profitable campaigns and to tag all generations, because each generation has their way of communicating.
THE 5 W’S FRAMEWORK
When you have a situation like this, so volatile and ever-changing, how do you even come up with a framework that’ll work in most situations? Data analytics has a framework called “The 5 W’s”, and it represents five points to guide your performance metrics analysis and data-driven decision-making. It is usually viewed from a data perspective, but I will give both data and people’s perspectives of it.
EXAMPLE — Level of happiness of undergraduate studies students at XY University between 2020 and 2024.
- FIRST W’ — WHO
DATA POINT – The WHO question identifies the individual cases or subjects in the study.
The individual cases or subjects are the students in all undergraduate studies at that particular university.
PEOPLE’S POINT – to whom are you presenting your data-driven insights? Is it the senior management aka stakeholders, marketing teams, clients, or your scrum team? You already have some experience presenting to them. You know which graphs and data they like. Make it as effective as possible. If you’re a junior data analyst and have no experience in it, check the older dashboards. Use simple terms when explaining data-driven insights.
- SECOND W’ — WHAT
DATA POINT – Taking into consideration the above-written example, the What question researches the level of happiness of those students.
PEOPLE’S POINT – what do team members or stakeholders want to know? What question are you trying to answer? Are you trying to improve marketing campaigns? Are you trying to enhance the data analysis process? Do you want to understand why customers left your service and stopped buying products?
- THIRD W’ — WHEN
DATA POINT – We are talking about the time dimension here. In our example, that would be between 2020 and 2024.
PEOPLE’S POINT – when does this analysis of yours have to be completed? Do you need to finish it by Thursday 10 AM?
- FOURTH W’ — WHERE
DATA POINT – We are taking into consideration the location. This can be a micro-location (one office, university) or a macro location (country, state, continent). In our case, that would be XY University.
PEOPLE’S POINT – How was this data collected? What is the data management process that you have in place? Do you know all the ins and outs of the data collection process? Can you be assured that your insights are valid? Do you know if all biases and errors are mitigated in a survey?
- FIFTH W’ — WHY
DATA POINT – Now, the answer to the question WHY is not explicitly mentioned in the example name per se. There might be multiple reasons to conduct such an analysis. It might be on a strategic level. You want to explore leisure activities for students outside of the University (but still organized by the University). You should also explore if the subjects/courses are too stressful for the students. etc.
PEOPLE’S POINT – What would you like to change with your data-driven insights and analysis? Would you like to influence someone’s decision-making process, or you are just doing your job?
CONCLUSION
The 5 W’s Framework offers a structured approach to data analysis, ensuring that every aspect of the process is covered. Analysts can develop a deep understanding of their data. They do this by methodically asking and answering the questions of Who, What, When, Where, and Why. They can draw meaningful insights. This approach helps make informed decisions that drive business success.
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