Queries for data analysis

Abstract

If we view data as a set of queries with an answer, what would a model be? In this paper we explore this question. The motivation is that there are more and more kinds of data that have to be analysed. Data of such a diverse nature that it is not easy to define precisely what data analysis actually is. Since all these different types of data share one characteristic - they can be queried - it seems natural to base a notion of data analysis on this characteristic. The discussion in this paper is preliminary at best. There is no attempt made to connect the basic ideas to other - well known - foundations of data analysis. Rather, it just explores some simple consequences of its central tenet: data is a set of queries with their answer. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012.