Guide to intelligent data analysis. How to intelligently make sense of real data (Q983128)

The book provides a thorough introduction to data mining that covers theoretical background as well as the use of tools (KNIME and R). The book is intended as a textbook for a broad audience from graduate and advanced undergraduate students to professional data analysts. It is divided into ten chapters, whose organization follows the CRoss Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM), and three appendices on statistics and details of the R Project and KNIME. The book starts with three brief chapters sketching a general introduction (Chapter 1), an illustrating practical data analysis scenario (Chapter 2), and the first phase of data analysis projects according to CRISP-DM, namely project understanding (Chapter 3). All subsequent chapters cover more technical material in much greater detail; in particular, all of them include a practically oriented section that explains how to use KNIME and R to apply the discussed techniques. Chapters 4--6 address data understanding (with an emphasis on data visualization), principles of modeling (from selection of the model class and the score function to the application of suitable algorithms, the treatment of error types, and the validation of results), and data preparation (data selection, cleaning, transformation, and integration) in detail. Then, Chapters 7--9 focus on finding patterns (clusters, frequent patterns and association rules, and deviation analysis), explanations (decision trees, Bayes classifiers, regression, and rule learning), and predictors (nearest neighbor, neural networks, SVMs, and ensemble methods). Finally, Chapter 10 briefly touches upon evaluation and deployment. Throughout the book the practical relevance of core concepts and techniques is emphasized, mathematical concepts are formalized concisely, yet in an accessible manner, and illustrations via examples and excellent figures help to convey key ideas. In addition, each chapter ends with a list of references to identify relevant research. Hence, I recommend this book as an introductory text on data analysis for the intended target audience.