Analysis Task

An Analysis Task is a cognitive task that produces new information about a phenomena by decomposing it into more basic components.

• AKA: Reductive Analysis.

Context:

• • Input: Artifacts (such as data, documents or formal systems).
  • output: Insights, Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations, or Decisions (possibly in an analysis report).
  • It can (typically) involve Evidence Gathering.
  • It can (often) provide detailed information and evidence that supports and informs a Reasoning Task to draw conclusions or inferences.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Direct Analysis Task to being a Meta-Analysis Task.
  • It can range from being a Planned Analysis Task to being an Adhoc Analysis Task.
  • It can range from being an Empirical Analysis Task to being an Analytical Analysis Task.
  • It can range from being a Deductive Analysis Task to being an Inductive Analysis Task to being an Abductive Analysis Task, depending on the reasoning pattern constraint.
  • It can range from being a Logical Analysis Task to being a Statistical Analysis Task, based on required inference style.
  • It can range from being an Exact Analysis Task to being an Approximate Analysis Task, based on precision requirements.
  • It can range from being an Analysis With Certainty to being an Analysis Under Uncertainty.
  • It can range from being an Open-Domain Analysis Task to being a Domain-Specific Analysis Task.
  • It can range from being a Constraint-based Analysis Task to being a Heuristic-based Analysis Task.
  • It can range from being a Practical Analysis Task to being a Theoretical Analysis Task.
  • It can range from being an Analytical Analysis Task to being a Creative Analysis Task.
  • ...
  • It can involve turning Implicit Information into Explicit Information.
  • It can be supported by tasks such as: Clustering Tasks, Detection Tasks, Classification Tasks, and Disambiguation Tasks.
  • It can be performed by Human Analysts.
  • It can be supported by Analysis Systems.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Technical Analysis Tasks:
    • an Algorithm Analysis Task, which evaluates the efficiency and correctness of algorithms.
    • a Linguistic Analysis, which examines the structure and meaning of language.
    • a Data Analysis Task, that seeks constituent Patterns within datasets.
    • a Research Analysis, which reviews and interprets scientific studies.
    • a Program Analysis, which inspects the behavior and properties of computer programs.
  • Diagnostic Analysis Tasks:
    • a Diagnosis Task, which identifies diseases or conditions based on symptoms and tests.
    • a Psychoanalysis Task, which delves into an individual's mental and emotional state.
    • a Theory of Mind Task, which explores the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others.
  • Creative Analysis Tasks:
    • an Introspection Task, which involves self-examination of thoughts and feelings.
    • an Annotation Task, that seeks and makes explicit some Meaning in an Artifact.
    • an Impact Analysis Task, such as an economic impact analysis, which assesses the effects of an economic event.
  • Statistical Analysis Tasks:
    • a Factor Analysis, which identifies underlying relationships between variables.
    • a Regression Analysis, which models the relationship between dependent and independent variables.
    • a Principal Component Analysis, which reduces the dimensionality of data while retaining most of the variance.
  • Domain-Specific Analysis Tasks:
    • an Economic Analysis Task, which examines financial and economic data to understand trends and patterns.
    • a Legal Analysis Task, which involves interpreting laws, regulations, and case law to provide legal advice or judgments.
    • a Medical Analysis Task, which includes the analysis of medical data to diagnose and treat patients.
    • an Environmental Impact Analysis Task, which assesses the potential effects of projects or policies on the environment.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • a Synthesis Task, such as generalization.
  • a Design Task, such as modeling.
  • a Creation Task.
  • a Simulation Task.
• See: Inductive Analysis, Reductionism, Reasoning.

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References

2015

• (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis#Computer_science Retrieved:2015-4-19.
  • Requirements analysis – encompasses those tasks that go into determining the needs or conditions to meet for a new or altered product, taking account of the possibly conflicting requirements of the various stakeholders, such as beneficiaries or users.
  • Competitive analysis (online algorithm) – shows how online algorithms perform and demonstrates the power of randomization in algorithms
  • Lexical analysis – the process of processing an input sequence of characters and producing as output a sequence of symbols
  • Object-oriented analysis and design – à la Booch.
  • Program analysis (computer science) – the process of automatically analyzing the behavior of computer programs
  • Semantic analysis (computer science) – a pass by a compiler that adds semantical information to the parse tree and performs certain checks
  • Static code analysis – the analysis of computer software that is performed without actually executing programs built from that
  • Structured systems analysis and design methodology – à la Yourdon.
  • Syntax analysis – a process in compilers that recognizes the structure of programming languages, also known as parsing
  • Worst-case execution time – determines the longest time that a piece of software can take to run

• (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis#Statistics Retrieved:2015-4-19.
  • In statistics, the term analysis may refer to any method used for data analysis. Among the many such methods, some are:
    • Analysis of variance (ANOVA) – a collection of statistical models and their associated procedures which compare means by splitting the overall observed variance into different parts
    • Boolean analysis – a method to find deterministic dependencies between variables in a sample, mostly used in exploratory data analysis
    • Cluster analysis – techniques for grouping objects into a collection of groups (called clusters), based on some measure of proximity or similarity
    • Factor analysis – a method to construct models describing a data set of observed variables in terms of a smaller set of unobserved variables (called factors)
    • Meta-analysis – combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses
    • Multivariate analysis – analysis of data involving several variables, such as by factor analysis, regression analysis, or principal component analysis
    • Principal component analysis – transformation of a sample of correlated variables into uncorrelated variables (called principal components), mostly used in exploratory data analysis
    • Regression analysis – techniques for analyzing the relationships between several variables in the data
    • Scale analysis (statistics) – methods to analyze survey data by scoring responses on a numeric scale
    • Sensitivity analysis – the study of how the variation in the output of a model depends on variations in the inputs
    • Sequential analysis – evaluation of sampled data as it is collected, until the criterion of a stopping rule is met
    • Spatial analysis – the study of entities using geometric or geographic properties
    • Time-series analysis – methods that attempt to understand a sequence of data points spaced apart at uniform time intervals

2014

• http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=analysis
  • QUOTE: early 14c., "a quantity of labor imposed as a duty," from Old North French tasque (12c., Old French tasche, Modern French tâche) "duty, tax," from Vulgar Latin *tasca "a duty, assessment," metathesis of Medieval Latin taxa, a back-formation of Latin taxare "to evaluate, estimate, assess" (see tax (v.)). General sense of "any piece of work that has to be done" is first recorded 1590s. Phrase take one to task (1680s) preserves the sense that is closer to tax.

    German tasche "pocket" is from the same Vulgar Latin source (via Old High German tasca), with presumable sense evolution from "amount of work imposed by some authority," to "payment for that work," to "wages," to "pocket into which money is put," to "any pocket."

2012

• (Wikipedia, 2012) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis
  • QUOTE: Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.

    The word is a transcription of the ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (analusis, "a breaking up", from ana- "up, throughout" and lysis "a loosening").

2009

• http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/analysis
  • Noun
    • 1. (countable, context, of a thing, concept, theory, etc.) The process of dismantling or separating into constituent elements in order to study the nature, function, or meaning; the result of this process.
    • 2. (uncountable, mathematics) The mathematical study of functions, sequences, series, limits, derivatives and integrals.
    • 3. (countable, logic) Proof by deduction from known truths.
    • 4. (countable, chemistry) The process of breaking down a substance into its constituent parts, or the result of this process.
    • 5. (countable, psychology) Psychoanalysis.
  • Antonyms
    • synthesis

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