The Foundational Methodology for Data Science paper describes the data science methodology in a business context. The first step is to have a business understanding of the problem and the process results in deployment of a model in a business setting.

However, data science applies beyond the scope of business problems. Data science is used in areas such as education, social science, amateur sports, and basic science where the problem is not a business problem and the outcome is not necessarily the deployment of a model.

Therefore, we will use a more general diagram for the data science methodology:

data science methodology diagram

accessible version of this diagram

Here, the Domain Problem refers to the problem being solved in a given domain of application. This could be a business problem or an education problem, for example. The Communication stage refers to the process of sharing the results of your work and getting feedback from stakeholders. This could be the deployment of a service to your customers or the publication of a scientific paper. We will use this diagram for the data science methodology to emphasize the broad application of data science.