METRICS & MEASUREMENT
THE PERCENTAGE OF USERS WHO TAKE A DESIRED ACTION, SUCH AS COMPLETING A PURCHASE OR SIGNING UP FOR A SERVICE
WHAT IS A CONVERSION RATE?
A SYSTEMATIC DEVIATION FROM THE TRUTH IN DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS, OR DECISION-MAKING, OFTEN CAUSED BY PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS OR COGNITIVE SHORTCUTS
WHAT IS BIAS?
A SET OF RULES OR A PROCESS USED FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING OR DECISION-MAKING
WHAT IS AN ALGORITHM?
A DATA PLATFORM WIDELY USED IN VOTER CONTACT, FUNDRAISING, VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT, AND ORGANIZING EFFORTS, WHICH COMBINES VOTER DATABASES WITH TOOLS FOR OUTREACH AND ANALYTICS
WHAT IS AN NGP/VAN?
THESE TWO CO-FOUNDERS OF GOOGLE REVOLUTIONIZED DATA ACCESS AND RETRIEVAL THROUGH THEIR PAGERANK ALGORITHM IN 1998; THEIR WORK TRANSFORMED THE WAY PEOPLE INTERACT WITH AND ANALYZE INFORMATION
WHO ARE LARRY PAGE AND SERGEY BRIN?
THE PERCENTAGE OF USERS WHO CLICK ON A LINK OR AD COMPARED TO THE NUMBER OF USERS WHO VIEWED IT
WHAT IS A CLICK-THROUGH RATE (CTR)?
THE TENDENCY TO RELY TOO HEAVILY ON THE FIRST PIECE OF INFORMATION ENCOUNTERED WHEN MAKING DECISIONS
WHAT IS ANCHORING?
MAKING MANAGERIAL DECISIONS BASED ON THE BEST AVAILABLE FACTS AND DATA, RATHER THAN PERSONAL OPINIONS OR PREFERENCES
WHAT IS EVIDENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT?
A CENTRAL REPOSITORY FOR STORING AND MANAGING LARGE AMOUNTS OF PRE-PROCESSED DATA FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES
WHAT IS A DATA WAREHOUSE?
AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS AT GEORGETOWN, HER RESEARCH FOCUSES ON HOW INDIVIDUALS CAN ASSESS THEMSELVES AND THE WORLD MORE ACCURATELY BY USING ADVICE AND FEEDBACK PRODUCED BY ALGORITHMS
WHO IS JENN LOGG?
A METHOD OF COMPARING TWO VERSIONS OF A PRODUCT OR STRATEGY TO DETERMINE WHICH PERFORMS BETTER (E.G., TESTING TWO EMAIL SUBJECT LINES TO SEE WHICH HAS A HIGHER OPEN RATE)
WHAT IS A/B TESTING?
CONTINUING AN ENDEAVOR DUE TO PRIOR INVESTMENT OF TIME, MONEY, OR EFFORT, EVEN WHEN IT WOULD BE BETTER TO ABANDON IT
WHAT IS THE SUNK COST FALLACY?
A SUBSET OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT ENABLES SYSTEMS TO LEARN AND IMPROVE FROM EXPERIENCE WITHOUT EXPLICIT PROGRAMMING
WHAT IS MACHINE LEARNING?
THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERING PATTERNS AND RELATIONSHIPS IN LARGE DATASETS USING STATISTICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES (E.G., IN FRAUD DETECTION AND MARKET BASKET ANALYSIS)
WHAT IS DATA MINING?
OFTEN CALLED THE PARENTAL FIGURE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, THIS PERSON DEVELOPED THE CONCEPTS THAT FORMALIZED THE NOTION OF COMPUTATION. THEIR WORK DURING WORLD WAR II, CRACKING THE ENIGMA CODE, DEMONSTRATED THE POWER OF COMPUTING AND DATA ANALYSIS
WHO IS ALAN TURING?
A MEASURABLE VALUE THAT INDICATES HOW EFFECTIVELY AN INDIVIDUAL OR ORGANIZATION IS ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE (E.G., MONTHLY SALES GROWTH OR CUSTOMER RETENTION RATE)
WHAT IS A KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR (KPI)?
A BIAS WHERE PEOPLE EVALUATE THE PROBABILITY OF EVENTS BASED ON HOW EASILY EXAMPLES COME TO MIND, OFTEN SKEWED BY EASILY ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION OR VIVID MEMORIES
WHAT IS THE AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC?
THE USE OF STATISTICAL ALGORITHMS AND MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES TO FORECAST THE LIKELIHOOD OF FUTURE OUTCOMES
WHAT IS PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS?
A STORAGE SYSTEM THAT HOLDS VAST AMOUNTS OF RAW DATA IN ITS NATIVE FORMAT UNTIL IT IS NEEDED
WHAT IS A DATA LAKE?
OFTEN CALLED THE FIRST COMPUTER PROGRAMMER, THIS PERSON WROTE THE FIRST ALGORITHM INTENDED TO BE EXECUTED BY A MACHINE IN THE 19TH CENTURY AND FORESAW THE POTENTIAL OF COMPUTERS TO PROCESS NOT JUST NUMBERS BUT ALSO SYMBOLS AND DATA
WHO IS ADA LOVELACE?
THE USE OF NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING TO ANALYZE OPINIONS, EMOTIONS, AND ATTITUDES IN TEXTUAL DATA (E.G., ANALYZING CUSTOMER REVIEWS TO DETERMINE OVERALL SATISFACTION)
WHAT IS SENTIMENT ANALYSIS?
THE TENDENCY TO PREFER AVOIDING LOSSES OVER ACQUIRING EQUIVALENT GAINS (E.G., BEING MORE UNHAPPY ABOUT LOSING $50 THAN HAPPY ABOUT GAINING $50)
WHAT IS LOSS AVERSION?
THE EXAMINATION OF HISTORICAL DATA TO UNDERSTAND PAST TRENDS AND PATTERNS
WHAT IS DESCRIPTIVE ANALYTICS?
A SET OF RULES THAT ALLOWS DIFFERENT SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS TO COMMUNICATE AND EXCHANGE DATA
WHAT IS AN API (APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE)?
A 20TH CENTURY COMPUTER SCIENCE TRAILBLAZER WHO DEVELOPED THE FIRST COMPILER AND CONTRIBUTED TO COBOL, ONE OF THE EARLIEST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES. CREDITED WITH THE TERM "DEBUGGING" AFTER REMOVING A LITERAL BUG FROM A COMPUTER
WHO IS GRACE HOPPER?