Big vs small data

An essential factor in the data analysis process is the size of your data. At the most basic level, one can differentiate between Big and Small data.

Big data contains an extensive range of variables over an extended timeframe. Such big datasets, for example, are then used to make large scale business decisions.
Small data can be relevant for making day-to-day assumptions and usually contains very few variables over a short time. For example, you analyse small data in order to define when you tend to wake up on weekends.

Depending on whether your data is big or small, you will use different tools in order to analyze it. For example, small data is often analyzed with simple spreadsheets, whereas big data is frequently studied by SQL queries and stored on large databases.