Which type of analytics investigates causal relationships to answer "why did this happen?"

The correct choice involves diagnostic analytics, which focuses specifically on understanding the reasons behind past events by identifying causal relationships. It seeks to answer questions like "why did this happen?" by analyzing data to find patterns, correlations, or other factors that contributed to an outcome. This type of analysis often involves comparing historical data and using advanced statistical techniques to draw insights about the causes of trends or incidents.

Descriptive analytics, while essential for summarizing past data, simply depicts what has happened without delving deeper into the underlying causes. Predictive analytics uses historical data to forecast future outcomes but does not provide insights into causal relationships. Prescriptive analytics goes a step further by suggesting ways to handle potential future scenarios, but it also does not focus on exploring the reasons behind past occurrences.