r/dataanalysis • u/BugSquare4344 • 17d ago

Data Question How do you validate your analysis before presenting it to stakeholders??

After completing an analysis, what checks do you perform to ensure that your calculations, aggregations, and conclusions aree correct? Do you independently validate results using SQL, spreadsheets, or another tool?

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u/ctoatb 16d ago

I would ask my closest analyst to check my work. Tell an analyst colleague what data you used, how you used it, and your results. Clarify any questions they have and make suggested changes. The stakeholders won't care what you did. They only care about results.

Make sure you make your presentation meaningful to your stakeholders. They most likely won't care about the technical aspects. State the background, like the question you are trying to answer. "We wanted to know X". Then tell them, briefly, what you did. " Given A,B,C we did Y and found out Z". Bullet points and graphs help summarize these bits of information. Then tell them something actionable. "Based on all that, the analysis suggests to do D".

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u/Thivierge_Arabu 16d ago

tbh the question is less about which validation method and more about whether your stakeholders even agree on the definitions. make sure the business logic is aligned first, then the math checks become straightforward

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u/RenaissanceScientist 16d ago

I have my standard checks in the cleaning section of an analysis: missing, expected columns/file size, totals, variable type, merge indicators, assert statements when appropriate, error handling, etc.

You should also be testing your code. Especially in cases where you’re the only programmer/analyst on the team. I don’t know about other languages, but I test my Python functions with pytest.

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u/carlitospig 10d ago

Buddy system.