Interpret research or operational data
Most of the output can be produced by software today.
Software can pull the data, run the comparison and write up what it found. The accuracy depends almost entirely on whether it is wired into the real system of record rather than a stale copy, which is the problem the tools and auth layer exists to solve.
| How automatable | Mostly automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Analysis and evaluation work |
| Jobs that do it | 14 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | Builders, Tools and auth |
| O*NET activity | Analyzing Data or Information (4.A.2.a.4) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 14 occupations that perform it.
- Code, evaluate, or interpret collected study data.
- Review, approve, or interpret genetic laboratory results.
- Interpret data, reports, maps, photographs, or charts to predict long- or short-range weather conditions, using computer models and knowledge of climate theory, physics, and mathematics.
- Analyze and distill climate-related research findings to inform legislators, regulatory agencies, or other stakeholders.
- Analyze and interpret geological data, using computer software.
- Interpret indicators to ascertain the overall health of an environment.
- Interpret test results and prepare psychological reports for teachers, administrators, and parents.
- Analyze and interpret data to increase the understanding of human social behavior.
- Collect, analyze, and interpret data, such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions.
- Interpret data from traffic modeling software, geographic information systems, or associated databases.
- Analyze experimental data and interpret results to write reports and summaries of findings.
- Compile and interpret results of tests and analyses.
- Interpret laboratory findings or test results to identify and classify substances, materials, or other evidence collected at crime scenes.
- Interpret test results, compare them to established specifications and control limits, and make recommendations on appropriateness of data for release.
- Identify risks for natural disasters, such as mudslides, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions.
- Analyze and interpret geological, geochemical, or geophysical information from sources, such as survey data, well logs, bore holes, or aerial photos.
What we would actually use
One recommendation rather than a shortlist, because a shortlist is just your problem handed back. This is what we would buy for analysis and evaluation work, and what it costs.
Start in the assistant with an export of the real data, because the accuracy problem here is a stale copy rather than a weak model. Make, at $9 a month, is the cheapest way to put the pull on a schedule once the analysis is worth repeating.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
The rest of the category
Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.
Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
14 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Atmospheric and Space Scientists
- Biological Technicians
- Chemical Technicians
- Climate Change Policy Analysts
- Clinical Research Coordinators
- Environmental Economists
- Forensic Science Technicians
- Geneticists
- Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers
- Political Scientists
- Quality Control Analysts
- School Psychologists
- Sociologists
- Transportation Planners
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Analyze data to improve operations”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.