Data Wrangling

By Jazib Ali
 Introduction to Data Wrangling

Data wrangling, also known as data munging, is a crucial process

in data science that involves transforming and mapping raw data
into a more usable format. The goal of data wrangling is to clean
and structure data, making it ready for analysis and machine
learning models.

Data in its raw form is often messy, incomplete, and inconsistent.

Therefore, effective data wrangling is essential for deriving
meaningful insights and improving the accuracy of data-driven
models.
 Objectives of the Lecture

1. Understand the importance of data wrangling in data science.

2. Explore different techniques for data cleaning and
transformation.
3. Learn how to handle missing, inconsistent, and duplicated
data.
4. Understand how to automate the data wrangling process.
5. Learn best practices for efficient data wrangling.
 1. What is Data Wrangling?

Data wrangling refers to the process of preparing and

transforming data into a format that is easy to analyze. It
includes the following steps:
• Data Collection – Gathering data from different sources.
• Data Cleaning – Removing inaccuracies and inconsistencies.
• Data Transformation – Changing the structure and format of
the data.
• Data Integration – Combining data from multiple sources.
• Data Enrichment – Enhancing the dataset with additional
information.
• Data Reduction – Reducing the volume of data to improve
processing efficiency.
 1. What is Data Wrangling?

Example:
A data scientist might collect customer data from an online store
and a physical store. The data may have different formats,
missing values, and duplicated entries. Data wrangling will help
merge, clean, and organize the data into a single consistent
format for further analysis.
 2. Importance of Data Wrangling

Data wrangling is crucial for several reasons:

• Better Data Quality – Clean data leads to more accurate
models and insights.
• Efficient Data Analysis – Well-structured data reduces
processing time.
• Enhanced Decision-Making – Reliable data provides better
business intelligence.
• Foundation for Machine Learning – High-quality input data
improves model performance.
 3. Steps in Data Wrangling

Step 1: Data Discovery

• Understanding the structure, format, and patterns in the data.
• Identifying key variables and data types.
Step 2: Data Structuring
• Converting raw data into a structured format.
• Example: Converting JSON or XML files into tables or CSV
format.
Step 3: Data Cleaning
• Removing duplicates.
• Filling or removing missing values.
• Correcting inconsistent formatting.
 3. Steps in Data Wrangling (Cont.)

Step 4: Data Enrichment

• Adding additional data sources.
• Creating new calculated fields or features.
Step 5: Data Validation
• Ensuring the data is consistent and accurate.
• Example: Checking that customer IDs are unique and properly
formatted.
Step 6: Data Publishing
• Saving the cleaned data for analysis.
• Example: Exporting data to a CSV or database for further
processing.
4. Techniques and Methods in Data Wrangling

a) Handling Missing Data

• Deletion: Remove rows or columns with too many missing
values.
• Imputation: Fill missing values using:
• Mean/Median/Mode
• Interpolation
• Predictive models
b) Handling Duplicates
• Identify and remove exact or nearly identical entries.
c) Data Type Conversion
• Convert strings to numeric or date format.
• Ensure consistency across datasets.
4. Techniques and Methods in Data Wrangling
d) Outlier Detection and Removal
• Use statistical methods such as:
• Z-score
• IQR (Interquartile Range)
• Tukey’s Fences
e) Data Normalization and Scaling
• Scale data to a fixed range (e.g., 0 to 1).
• Normalize data to remove bias from different measurement
scales.
f) Text Cleaning
• Removing punctuation, stop words, and special characters.
• Lemmatization and stemming.
 5. Tools and Libraries for Data Wrangling

Programming Languages
• Python – Popular for data wrangling due to libraries like:

Pandas- Data Manipulation and Analysis.

numpy- Handling Numerical Data.
Scipy- Statistical and Scientific Calculations
 5. Tools and Libraries for Data Wrangling

Data Wrangling Tools

• Excel – Basic data wrangling for small datasets.
• SQL – Managing and transforming structured data.
• Open Refine – Open-source tool for data cleaning.
 6. Challenges in Data Wrangling

a) Incomplete Data
• Missing values, inconsistent formats, and incomplete records.
b) Large Datasets
• Handling high-volume data requires optimized processing.
c) Diverse Data Sources
• Merging structured and unstructured data (e.g., CSV + JSON +
XML).
d) Performance Issues
• Wrangling large datasets may require parallel processing and
cloud solutions.
 7. Automation in Data Wrangling

Automating data wrangling reduces manual effort and

increases efficiency. Methods include:
• ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) Tools – Automating data
integration and cleaning.
• Python Scripts – Custom scripts for repetitive tasks.
• Cloud-based Tools – AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure for
scalable data processing.
 8. Best Practices in Data Wrangling

✅ Understand the data – Know the source, structure, and

meaning of each field.
✅ Ensure data integrity – Validate accuracy and consistency
throughout the process.
✅ Use version control – Keep track of changes in the data.
✅ Automate repetitive tasks – Minimize manual work using
scripts or ETL tools.
✅ Document the process – Keep detailed notes on
transformations and assumptions.
 9. Real-World Example

Case Study: Customer Churn Prediction

A telecommunications company collected customer usage
data from multiple sources. After data wrangling:
• Missing values were filled using mean and predictive models.
• Duplicate entries were removed.
• Categorical data (e.g., customer type) was encoded into
numerical values.
• Outliers in billing data were identified and removed.
• Cleaned data was used to train a machine learning model,
improving churn prediction accuracy by 15%.
 10. Summary

Data wrangling is a critical step in the data science pipeline.

Clean, structured, and consistent data improves the reliability
and accuracy of machine learning models and data analysis.
Mastering data wrangling techniques equips data scientists to
handle real-world data challenges efficiently.
 11. Conclusion

Data wrangling is an indispensable part of any data science

project. It involves cleaning, transforming, and organizing data to
make it ready for analysis. By learning the tools and techniques
for effective data wrangling, data scientists can unlock the full
potential of their data and drive meaningful insights.