What you need for this book

This book introduces students to the steps of data analysis. Students do not need to be experienced in analyzing data; however, an introductory statistics or data mining course would be helpful since this book's emphasis will be the point and click operations in Modeler, and neither statistical nor data mining theory. We will carefully cover theory as needed to help you understand why we are performing each of the steps in the case study, so you can safely start with this book as your very first book. However, a single case study will not provide a complete theoretical context for data mining and we will only use a single modeling algorithm in any detail.

Software demonstrations will be performed on IBM SPSS Modeler; thus, having access to Modeler is critical to enable you to follow along with step-by-step instructions. While we recognize that you might make a first pass at this content away from your computer, you should try each and every step in the book in Modeler. We have carefully narrowed the material down to the essentials. You should find that every step will serve you well when you apply what you've learned to your own data and your own situation. Since we've kept it to the basics, you should have no problem completing the entire book during the time period of a trial license of Modeler, if you do not have permanent access to Modeler. If you encounter this material in a university setting, you may be eligible for a student version.

If you don't have Modeler yet, you might want to consider watching the Packt IBM SPSS Modeler Essentials Video first, then installing the trial version, and then working through the book step by step. Since the two case studies are different, this will provide excellent reinforcement of the material. You will see virtually every concept twice, but with different datasets.