4.10 Follow-up Questions
In this chapter we’ve presented some simple steps to take when starting off on an exploratory analysis. The example analysis conducted in this chapter was far from perfect, but it got us thinking about the data and the question of interest. It also gave us a number of things to follow up on in case we continue to be interested in this question.
At this point it’s useful to consider a few follow-up questions.
Do you have the right data? Sometimes at the conclusion of an exploratory data analysis, the conclusion is that the dataset is not really appropriate for this question. In this case, the dataset seemed perfectly fine for answering the question of whether counties in the eastern U.S. have higher levels in the western U.S.
Do you need other data? While the data seemed adequate for answering the question posed, it’s worth noting that the dataset only covered one year (2014). It may be worth examining whether the east/west pattern holds for other years, in which case we’d have to go out and obtain other data.
Do you have the right question? In this case, it’s not clear that the question we tried to answer has immediate relevance, and the data didn’t really indicate anything to increase the question’s relevance. For example, it might have been more interesting to assess which counties were in violation of the national ambient air quality standard, because determining this could have regulatory implications. However, this is a much more complicated calculation to do, requiring data from at least 3 previous years.
The goal of exploratory data analysis is to get you thinking about your data and reasoning about your question. At this point, we can refine our question or collect new data, all in an iterative process to get at the truth.