In Chapter 1 we discussed that the core goal of this book is to use data analysis in order to understand what drives behavior. This requires understanding the relationship between data and behaviors, which was represented in Chapter 1 by an arrow in the causal-behavioral framework (Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1. The causal-behavioral framework with the arrow for this chapter highlighted
Forgive the pop-culture reference, but if you’ve seen The Matrix, you’ll recall that the main character can look at the world around him and see the numbers behind it. Well, in this chapter you’ll learn to look at your data and see the behaviors behind it.
The first section is mostly directed to readers with a business or data analysis background and offers a basic “behavioral science 101” introduction to core behavioral science concepts. If you’re a behavioral scientist by training, you probably won’t find much that’s new here, but you may want to skim through just to get a feel for the specific terms I use.
Based on that common understanding, the second section will show you how to look at your data through a behavioral lens and determine the behavioral concept related to each variable. In many cases, unfortunately, a variable is at first only loosely related to the corresponding behavior, so we’ll also learn how to “behavioralize” such wayward variables.
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
