The process of data analysis

The primary goal of this book is to thoroughly teach you how to use pandas to manipulate data. But there is a secondary, and perhaps no less important, goal of showing how pandas fits into the processes that a data analyst/scientist performs in everyday life.

One description of the steps involved in the process of data analysis is given on the pandas web site:

• Munging and cleaning data
• Analyzing/modeling
• Organization into a form suitable for communication

This small list is a good initial definition, but it fails to cover the overall scope of the process and why many features implemented in pandas were created. The following expands upon this process and sets the framework for what is to come throughout this journey.