Explanatory v. Predictive: The Forgotten Project Distinction

Clarifying goals for informed decisions

One of the biggest sources of confusion in Data Science, and specifically between Data Science teams and business leaders, is the distinction between explanatory and predictive models. There is often a lack of definition around whether the goal of a project is to accurately forecast something, as in a predictive model. Or whether the goal is to show why something has happened, as in an explanatory model.