Master’s Notebook
What Do Trees, Mining, and
Random Walks Have in Common?
Theresa Gilligan, RTI-Health Solutions
A
nswer: They are all key words associated with prefer the decisionmaking side, you can
the emerging discipline of analytics. interpret and use the outcomes of the
Analytics helps organizations make sense analytic techniques to inform business
of large amounts of data by integrating statistical and research decisions. Good analysts
methods and complex processes for better decision- must not only understand the quan-
making. Those who love analytics get excited about titative analytical methods, but also
finding patterns, anomalies, and relationships in clearly communicate and explain the
data. They perform analyses involving predictive output and higher-level concepts to
modeling, data and text mining, geospatial ana- decisionmakers at all levels.
lytics, forecasting, optimization, simulation, and
experimental design. Most important, analytics is an
What Would My Job Entail?
applied discipline that looks at the facts (data and You would grow trees, perform mining, and take
quantitative analyses) to drive decisions. random walks.
With the wealth of quantitative information pro- Decision trees: What are the common charac-
vided by computers and new technologies, analytics teristics of patients with breast cancer? Create deci-
has become an in-demand tool in guiding industry. sion trees to visualize a hierarchy of physical and
The Institute of Advanced Analytics was founded at health characteristics associated with a disease. Use
North Carolina State University in 2007 to address this information to decide when to educate and take
the growing need for professionals to meet this action to prevent late detection.
demand. I was a member of the first class to gradu- Data mining: How can we predict fraudulent
ate with my Master of Science in Analytics from the insurance claims? Analyze data to find the patterns
institute. Below, I will answer some of the questions associated with existing fraudulent insurance claims.
you might have about analytics as a career. Apply this information to identify potential fraudu-
lent activity and prioritize claims.
What Level of Education Do I Need?
Random walks: Can we predict the electricity
Most people who apply analytic methods at work usage for tomorrow? Use forecasting to identify elec-
have advanced degrees in analytics, statistics, or trical use patterns and determine when excess power
another quantitative field. can be sold to other plants.
Where Can I Work? What Do You Do with Your Degree?
Those studying and applying analytics are My MSA degree supports my career as a senior
found in myriad industries, including consult- health outcomes analyst at RTI Health Solutions.
ing, retail, telecommunications, manufacturing, I work with psychometricians, biostatisticians, and
banking and finance, and product development survey researchers to understand the experiences of
and research. patients, health-care providers, and other stakehold-
ers. We develop and validate instruments and ana-
How Does Analytics Fit?
lyze their health outcomes to drive pharmaceutical
A background in analytics gives you the option
product decisions.
to choose from multiple levels in a company’s
I am currently researching text-mining applica-
structure. The beauty of this discipline is that it
tions to quantitatively support claims from patient
plays a role in both mathematical and statistical
interview transcripts. Text mining has the potential
analyses and decisionmaking. If you prefer the
to help us extract the frequency of concepts elicited
analysis side, you can complete the “meat” of the
from patients and define relationships between key
analyses and work closely with the data. If you
words and phrases. n
AUGUST 2009 AmstAt News 33
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