Comments on: Data Quality Sucks, Let's Just Get Over It http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate. Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:44:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Why Should You Import Analytics Goals Into Adwords Conversion Tracking?http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html/comment-page-1#comment-490363 Why Should You Import Analytics Goals Into Adwords Conversion Tracking? Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:58:00 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html#comment-490363 [...] Aside from technical issues that actually skew the results, conversion tracking consistently returns results which differ from other stats sources, such as say Google Analytics.Don’t worry, this isn’t a source for panic. Its widely accepted that pretty much all stats packages are inaccurate to some extent or another. The data you are gathering is still very useful.There are a couple of ways to get the best value from your stats if they are coming from a few different sources. They both mean deciding on a baseline: [...] [...]
Aside from technical issues that actually skew the results, conversion tracking consistently returns results which differ from other stats sources, such as say Google Analytics.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a source for panic. Its widely accepted that pretty much all stats packages are inaccurate to some extent or another. The data you are gathering is still very useful.

There are a couple of ways to get the best value from your stats if they are coming from a few different sources. They both mean deciding on a baseline:
[...]

]]> By:   Webanalist… it’s a dirty job! | Webanalisten.nlhttp://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html/comment-page-1#comment-476693   Webanalist… it’s a dirty job! | Webanalisten.nl Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:30:49 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html#comment-476693 [...] Verschillende webanalyticspakketten geven andere resultaten, klikgegevens van mediabureaus en ‘bannerboeren’ komen nimmer overeen met de zelf geregistreerde data en gemeten conversies matchen niet met de daadwerkelijke kassa-aanslagen. Webanalisten hebben in het gevecht tegen de techniek de handdoek eigenlijk al lang in de ring gegooid, quoten desgevraagd Goeroe Avinash; ‘Data quality sucks, let’s just get over it!’, proberen te redden wat er te redden valt (‘Make data quality suck less’) en hebben een tas vol munitie paraat om de belangrijke schuldvraag af te slaan: [...] [...] Verschillende webanalyticspakketten geven andere resultaten, klikgegevens van mediabureaus en ‘bannerboeren’ komen nimmer overeen met de zelf geregistreerde data en gemeten conversies matchen niet met de daadwerkelijke kassa-aanslagen. Webanalisten hebben in het gevecht tegen de techniek de handdoek eigenlijk al lang in de ring gegooid, quoten desgevraagd Goeroe Avinash; ‘Data quality sucks, let’s just get over it!’, proberen te redden wat er te redden valt (‘Make data quality suck less’) en hebben een tas vol munitie paraat om de belangrijke schuldvraag af te slaan: [...]

]]> By: Trending Upward | Are you a skeptic? Come on, I know you are!http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html/comment-page-1#comment-468887 Trending Upward | Are you a skeptic? Come on, I know you are! Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:06:07 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html#comment-468887 [...] A lot of skepticism around analytics centers around the fact that the numbers are never perfect. Cookie deletion, cookie rejection, turning off javascript can all skew numbers. True. But, let’s heed Avanish Kaushik’s advice and get over it. Why? Because it doesn’t matter. Why doesn’t it matter? Because it’s *off* consistently across your site. That’s why trends are so important. You can argue that the statement, “I got 1,500 visits last month” may or may not be perfectly true. You can’t argue, however, the truth to the statement, “our visits are up 10% over last month.” See the difference? The 1,500 number doesn’t mean anything anyway, even if it were a concrete, true, golden number. Putting it in context with the previous month (or other date range) makes all the difference. You can do the same thing with all your other metrics. [...] [...] A lot of skepticism around analytics centers around the fact that the numbers are never perfect. Cookie deletion, cookie rejection, turning off javascript can all skew numbers. True. But, let’s heed Avanish Kaushik’s advice and get over it. Why? Because it doesn’t matter. Why doesn’t it matter? Because it’s *off* consistently across your site. That’s why trends are so important. You can argue that the statement, “I got 1,500 visits last month” may or may not be perfectly true. You can’t argue, however, the truth to the statement, “our visits are up 10% over last month.” See the difference? The 1,500 number doesn’t mean anything anyway, even if it were a concrete, true, golden number. Putting it in context with the previous month (or other date range) makes all the difference. You can do the same thing with all your other metrics. [...]

]]> By: Gilligan on Data by Tim Wilson » Blog Archive » Capturing Web Traffic Data — Two Methods that Suckhttp://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html/comment-page-1#comment-398541 Gilligan on Data by Tim Wilson » Blog Archive » Capturing Web Traffic Data — Two Methods that Suck Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:21:22 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html#comment-398541 [...] First off, it is largely a waste of time to try to completely reconcile data from two different web analytics tools. This post really isn’t about that. Mark Twain, Lee Segall, or perhaps someone else coined the saying, “A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.” The same is true for web analytics. Thanks to different data capture methods, different data processing algorithms, different data storage schemas, and different definitions, no two tools running concurrently will ever report the same results. The good news, though, is that most tools will show very similar trends. WebTrends preaches, “in web analytics, it’s the trends that matter — that’s why it’s part of our name!” But, even in the broader web analytics community, this is widely accepted. Avinash Kaushik had a great post titled Data Quality Sucks, Let’s Just Get Over It way back in 2006, but it still applies. Read more there! [...] [...] First off, it is largely a waste of time to try to completely reconcile data from two different web analytics tools. This post really isn’t about that. Mark Twain, Lee Segall, or perhaps someone else coined the saying, “A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.” The same is true for web analytics. Thanks to different data capture methods, different data processing algorithms, different data storage schemas, and different definitions, no two tools running concurrently will ever report the same results. The good news, though, is that most tools will show very similar trends. WebTrends preaches, “in web analytics, it’s the trends that matter — that’s why it’s part of our name!” But, even in the broader web analytics community, this is widely accepted. Avinash Kaushik had a great post titled Data Quality Sucks, Let’s Just Get Over It way back in 2006, but it still applies. Read more there! [...]

]]> By: Judah Phillips at Web Analytics Demystified » Blog Archive » Part 1: Your Web Analytics Data Quality Stinks and Here’s Why!http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html/comment-page-1#comment-196582 Judah Phillips at Web Analytics Demystified » Blog Archive » Part 1: Your Web Analytics Data Quality Stinks and Here’s Why! Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:56:08 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html#comment-196582 [...] Sampling, sampling, sampling.  My friend Avinash Kaushikdoes a good job covering issues around sampling in web analytics.  I recommend reading his post!  I’ll add that statistical methods applied to web analytics data are completely valid; however, sampling at the site, page, or database level opens the possibility that you miss key data.  Sites looking for the “long tail” of visitors and using data sampling or other data trimming methods may not find it.  [...] [...] Sampling, sampling, sampling.  My friend Avinash Kaushikdoes a good job covering issues around sampling in web analytics.  I recommend reading his post!  I'll add that statistical methods applied to web analytics data are completely valid; however, sampling at the site, page, or database level opens the possibility that you miss key data.  Sites looking for the "long tail" of visitors and using data sampling or other data trimming methods may not find it.  [...]

]]> By: Tooling Around on the IBM Information Serverhttp://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html/comment-page-1#comment-91041 Tooling Around on the IBM Information Server Fri, 27 Apr 2007 04:33:54 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/06/data-quality-sucks-lets-just-get-over-it.html#comment-91041 <strong>Blogtipping Day: fixing the world one data quality problem at a time...</strong>If you slapped the words "data quality" on a hotdog stand someone would offer to buy it before the end of the day. Data quality tools are hot properties so I am BlogTipping three vendor blogs.... Blogtipping Day: fixing the world one data quality problem at a time…

If you slapped the words "data quality" on a hotdog stand someone would offer to buy it before the end of the day. Data quality tools are hot properties so I am BlogTipping three vendor blogs….

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