Which process do data analysts use to make data more organized and easier to read?

• A. Data cleaning
• B. Data manipulation
• C. Data mining
• D. Data visualization

Answer: (B)

Data manipulation is about transforming data to make it more usable, organized, and easier to read. This covers tasks like sorting records, filtering to focus on relevant data, reshaping tables, joining different data sources, and creating calculated fields. These actions arrange the data’s structure so analysts can scan and interpret it more quickly, which is essential before diving into deeper analysis or reporting. Data cleaning fixes errors and inconsistencies to improve quality, but its primary goal is accuracy rather than readability. Data mining searches for hidden patterns in large datasets, not specifically to tidy or present the data clearly. Data visualization focuses on presenting results, not the step of organizing the raw data itself. Therefore, manipulating the data to reorganize and make it easier to read best fits the task.