The acronyms used to name this program reflect the main purpose and underlying principles of this interactive data analysis program. Exploratory data analysis is an approach to data analysis inspired by John Tukey's seminal Exploratory Data Analysis (1977). This approach is understood in the first place as an attitude and awareness towards methodological problems in their specific context of utilization and as a guideline for software development and teaching.
The program grew out of teaching and research in the area of exploratory data analysis on the one hand and multivariate analysis on the other; this experience is reflected throughout the program. EDA is a general data analysis tool with a specialization in the area of aggregate data analysis.
The EDA package has been actively developed for many years and is currently used in many different fields, both academic and applied: Life sciences, especially biology, geology, geography, psychology and education, economy, mathematics and statistics, social and political sciences, as well as in production (e.g. agriculture).
With its strong didactical features EDA is easily integrated into a wide range of educational settings (universities, continuative education, vocational training, summer schools, etc.).