Archive for February 7th, 2014

Nums: Ask why … not just how many.

February 7, 2014

Some highlights from an HBR article:  The Hidden Biases in Big Data

These days the business and management science worlds are focused on how large datasets can decode consumers’ behavior patterns … enabling marketers to laser-target high potential prospects with finely-honed messages, offers, and “attention”.

“Big data” … becomes problematic when it adheres to “data fundamentalism” … the notion that correlation always indicates causation, and that massive data sets and predictive analytics always reflect objective truth … that  “with enough data, the numbers speak for themselves.”

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Big data has hidden biases in both collection methods and analysis …

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