Google Data Analytics : Course 2 — “Ask Questions to Make Data-Driven Decisions”

Shweta Jagdhane
3 min readSep 2, 2022

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Yesterday I completed course 2 of Google data analytics certificate.

Certificate

This course teaches the effective way how data analysts analyze and ask questions that make problem solving easy and how to communicate with peers or managers to make work easy for you.

WEEK 1 — Effective questions

  1. We learn problem solving and effective questioning. What structured thinking is.
  2. How to take action with the help of data. How to solve issues with actions.
  3. Then we explore the six problem types data analysts typically work with.
  4. They teach us how to effectively craft questions using SMART technique. Things to avoid while asking questions.

This week also talks about how to keep fairness while asking questions.

WEEK 2 — Data-driven questions

  1. This week is about understanding the power of data. How data-driven and data-inspired decisions help us. How data empowers our decisions. It also explores how data is used in day to day life. Types of data, which Qualitative data and Quantitative data.
  2. Follow the evidence — How to share your finding using visualization. Designing compelling dashboards, types of dashboards.
  3. Connecting the dots using data. Mathematical thinking and Big data, Small data. Challenges and benefits of big data.

WEEK 3 — More spreadsheet basics

  1. Working with spreadsheets and the data life cycle. Hands-on activities.
  2. Formulas in spreadsheets and how to use them. Errors in spreadsheets and how to understand and solve them
  3. Functions in spreadsheets. Difference between functions and formulas
  4. Save time with structured thinking. What SOW is and how to use them. The importance of context.
Structured thinking is the process of recognizing the current problem situation, organizing available information, revealing gaps and opportunities, and identifying the options.
Structured thinking

WEEK 4 — Always remember the stakeholder

  1. Balance teams and stakeholder needs, communicating with the different teams, Working effectively with stakeholders,Questions to ask yourself when communicating, understanding stakeholder needs.
  2. Communication is key. Balancing expectations and realistic goals. Limitations of data. Speed vs Accuracy
  3. Meeting best practices. Leading great meetings

Overall this course is the foundation that you are going to need when starting a new project. This course is amazing to understand the thought process before starting a project and understanding the end goal, asking effective questions to yourself or the stakeholders. This course is a must if you are starting your career in Data Analytics just like me

Next course coming soon with even more insights and tips.

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Shweta Jagdhane
Shweta Jagdhane

Written by Shweta Jagdhane

Data Analyst | Data storyteller | SQL | Excel | Power BI | Tableau | Python developer | Bookworm | #dataanalyst #SQL #python #powerbi #google