(without uploading data)
Artificial Intelligence can be a powerful tool for analyzing data and generating insights without ever needing to upload your (sensitive) data. Here are some ideas on how to utilize AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot) for data analysis:
- Brainstorm
- It can be a great tool for brainstorming program goals and evaluation questions, it can take initial ideas and turn them into SMART goals or guide the development of evaluation questions tailored to the program’s purpose and objectives or type of evaluation desired.
- Just the Column Names
- Uploading just the headers of your spreadsheet without any data is an easy alternative to orientate the AI tool to the data you have. It can understand the structure of your dataset and provide guidance on how to organize it or analyze it. It also is helpful when asking it to write formulas (excel, stata, R, etc.) for analysis if it has access to the headers to tailor the formulas to your data set.
- Suggested Analytical Tests
- Describe the data in your spreadsheet and the type of questions or answers you are curious about. Include the type of variables you have and the purpose of the analysis. AI tools can suggest analytical tests based on the description of the data you provide, such as counts, averages, t-tests, chi-squared, or regression analysis. You can also ask it for the steps to perform the analysis, including providing you with the Excel formula, python script, or SQL query.
- Interpret Results
- Describe the results from the statistical analysis or content of a graph and ask the tool to help you understand and interpret the output. It can also be a thought partner in understanding how the results relate back to your program goals or hypothesis.
- Troubleshoot Formula Errors
- AI tools can be helpful in troubleshooting results or error messages in Excel by interpreting the formula errors, diagnosing the problem, and suggesting potential solutions.
- Visualize your data
- Provide details about the types of data you have and the insights you want to highlight. It can be used to brainstorm ideas for visualizations such as bar charts, scatter plots, heat maps, or pie charts. AI can also provide details on how to create the visualizations in Excel. Bonus – Ask it to use your favorite dataviz expert as inspiration.