The planning stage was a straightforward process to undertake as part of the Data Science Project. As an allocated data set would be used, this provided a starting point that allowed me to begin investigating the area where I wished to focus my investigation.

Defining the problem

I split the planning stage into six sections and an additional appendix to support my project plan. After reviewing the data set, I knew I wanted to investigate SMEs and Scotland versus the United Kingdom. From studying other data sets available, I knew I could use the postcode data set but would also need to obtain other data sets to provide a larger picture of the gender pay gap.

As a female small business owner based in Scotland, this would be an area of particular interest for me personally, something outlined before the commencement of the project as being crucial as it is necessary to ensure the project’s success.

The aim set out at the planning stage would be that my analysis of data sets would compare SMEs versus large companies in Scotland and the degree of success in closing the gender pay gap. Still, a similar study would be undertaken to compare SMEs in Scotland with England.

Background of project

My research at the planning stage highlighted that SMEs account for a significant proportion of employment in Scotland. Additionally, the Scottish Government published in 2019 its Gender Pay Gap Action Plan, and as such, my particular area is of relevance both to the economy of Scotland and at a legislative level.

My initial thoughts based on this suggested that an analysis of SMEs in Scotland and their resulting gender pay gap could be utilised as a benchmarking mechanism for SMEs to compare their success against others within their industry and outwith.

Secondly, the analysis could be used to identify the success of the Fairer Scotland for Women Action Plan and what next steps may be required to improve the gender pay gap further.

Benefits of solving the problem

Given the timeframe for undertaking the Data Science Project, I knew the best chance of success would be through focusing on providing quantitative answers to my project problem. With a broader timescale and resources, it would be possible to include qualitative answers and provide customised answers based on specific factors if required.

The main aim of my analysis would be to confirm what progress has been made at the SME level, compare this against larger organisations and compare Scotland against the overall United Kingdom statistics.

Providing this in a visualised format using Power BI would make the gender pay gap data accessible and understandable.

Approach to addressing the problem

As noted above, with a broader timescale and resources, manual surveying could provide bespoke data and allow specific factors to be investigated. The drawback is the time and effort required to successfully undertake this, which would not have been practical at this level.

Instead, using several open-source datasets to provide more generalised observations was the best option with the time and resources allocated.

Selecting and justifying one approach

If a customised survey were used, a layer of complexity would be added to the project that I did not feel would be feasible to achieve in the time I had, resources available and my skillset. I also had concerns that going down this path could lead to difficulties with data not providing robust analysis – for example, if not enough data was gathered.

Further, any survey must comply with GDPR, mainly where personal data would be recorded. Further, the Data Ethics Framework would need to be adhered to, which may cause project delays.

Using open-source datasets mitigated these potential issues and avoided any moral implications in undertaking the project. Additionally, the data has already gone through a certain level of cleansing, reducing the time I would need to spend on this.

Planning the project

The planning stage was an essential stage of the project which allowed me to decide and confirm the best route of accessing data, the type of data analysis to be undertaken and the questions I hoped to solve with my analysis.

Looking ahead, I outlined the main steps of the development and evaluation stages and what these would require for completion.

I also needed to decide on a suitable format for the project, this website. The main reasoning for this was to ensure accessibility but also to tie my findings into my strengths as a designer. I also hoped to provide educational content by means of social media, which would help promote my project.