Data Mining in Public Administration

Data mining involves searching through databases for potentially useful information such as knowledge rules, patterns, regularities, and other trends hidden in the data. In order to complete these tasks, the contemporary data mining packages offer techniques such as neural networks, inductive learning decision trees, cluster analysis, link analysis, genetic algorithms, visualization, and so forth (Hand, Mannila, & Smyth, 2001; Wang, 2006). In general, data mining is a data analytical technique that assists businesses in learning and understanding their customers so that decisions and strategies can be implemented most accurately and effectively to maximize profitability. Data mining is not general data analysis, but a comprehensive technique that requires analytical skills, information construction, and professional knowledge.