The Scenario: You’re called upon to perform some examination & determination of your circumstances. What’s the best approach?
DIAGNOSIS involves determining the nature of a problem from the symptoms presented.
Insight: The output of DIAGNOSIS is data, which tends to be static. Ascertained by looking at signs & symptoms, DIAGNOSIS illustrates the nature of the problem under consideration.
ANALYSIS involves determining the elements or components of a complex thing.
Insight: The output of ANALYSIS is information, which is by nature more dynamic than simple data. This output is derived from investigating not only the constituent parts of a whole but also their relations in making up that whole.
The Takeaway: If your goal is to challenge assumptions, ANALYSIS is likely to be more useful to you; the more dynamic output can offer forward impetus for your investigation. But if you are looking to simply describe what you’re dealing with, DIAGNOSIS is probably a more useful approach to start with.