Article,
Exploratory data analysis
European Journal of Operational Research, 23 (1): 5 - 13 (1986)
DOI: 10.1016/0377-2217(86)90209-2
Abstract
It is usually wise to begin any statistical analysis with an informal, exploratory examination of the data, and this is often called exploratory data analysis (abbreviated EDA). The ingredients of EDA are discussed, and two main objectives are delineated, namely data description and model-formulation. It is suggested that it is important to see EDA as an integral part of statistical inference, and several examples are presented to show how EDA is used in model-building in regard to such topics as queueing, reliability, stock control, regression and forecasting. Some drawbacks to Tukey, 1977 approach to EDA are discussed, and an alternative title is suggested, namely the initial examination of data (IDA).
