PrintAnalytical Skills
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Switching gears a little bit and moving away from the overarching practices needed in today's job market, we're now going to focus in on specific skills that employers are looking for!
The Oxford Dictionary defines analysis as the “detailed examination of the elements or structure of something, typically as a basis for discussion or interpretation.” In other words, we examine something, so we can discuss it or interpret it.
The something can be just about anything—last night’s baseball game, a Beatles album, your family budget, medical results, a business plan, marketing strategy, sales results, consumer behavior, an environmental study (hey, now we’re talking…), a policy, energy information, etc..
In this program, of course, we are mostly concerned with those things related to policy, energy, and the environment (sustainability). In your courses, you’ll examine reports, policies, proposals, and data on topics related to energy and sustainability policy from a wide range of sources.
The methods of examination fall into two basic categories: qualitative methods and quantitative methods.
Qualitative methods explore information that is often subjective, such as descriptions and images, to discover more about the thing we are examining. These kinds of methods don’t begin by saying, “Here’s what I think is happening and here are the variables I’m going to measure to prove that what I think is or is not true.” Instead, they look to gain an understanding of the underlying interactions. This kind of research is often used to study human behavior, especially related to decision-making.
I think of qualitative methods as less number driven, or more narrative in some instances! For example, information gathered from commentary that was provided through an open-ended question on a survey (vs. choosing an answer from a provided multiple choice list).
Quantitative methods use facts and statistics (numbers!) to prove or extract something about the thing we are examining. These methods do start with defined variables and measurements and often involve statistical analysis. Graphs like the one below are created using quantitative data in the form of numbers.
EIA Projects 28% increase in world energy use by 2040. The line graph is of World energy consumption by energy source (1990 - 2040) in quadrillion British thermal units.
- Nuclear: remains relatively flat with a slight increase from 25 to 45 BTU's from 1990 - 2040
- Renewables: Increased from about 40 BTUs in 1990 to 50 BTUs in 2007 and then to 75 BTUs in 2015. It is projected to increase to 125 by 2040
- Coal: Fairly steady from1990 - 2004 at 90 BTUs. Rapid increase from 2004 - 2015 (90 BTUs - 155 BTUs). It is projected to remain fairly steady from 2015 - 2040
- Natural Gas: Steady increase from 75 in 1990 to 180 in 2040
- Petroleum and Other Liquids: Steady increase from 180 in 1990 to 225 in 2040
The text below the image says" The U.S. Energy Information Administration's latest International Energy Outlook 2017 (IEO2017) projects that world energy consumption will grow by 28% between 2015 and 2040. Most of this growth is expected to come from countries that are not in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and especially in countries where demand is driven by strong economic growth, particularly in Asia. Non-OECD Asia (which includes China and India) accounts for more than 60% of the world's total increase in energy consumption from 2015 through 2040.