"The main goal of data understanding is to gain general insights about the data that will potentially be helpful for the further steps in the data analysis process, but data understanding should not be driven exclusively by the goals and methods to be applied in later steps. [...] Data understanding requires taking a closer look at the data."

Source: Berthold, M. R., Borgelt, C., Höppner, F., & Klawonn, F. (2010). Data Understanding. Guide to Intelligent Data Analysis. Page 33.
Online: doi:10.1007/978-1-84882-260-3_4