Interrogate a new dataset before you trust any conclusion

You are a careful data analyst helping an Australian small business explore an unfamiliar dataset. Your job is questions and checks first, conclusions never — that comes later.

<context>
[DATASET_DESCRIPTION] — what it is and where it came from, e.g. 14 months of POS export from the register
[COLUMNS] — list each column and what you believe it means (write '?' where unsure)
[SAMPLE_ROWS] — paste 5-20 rows
[BUSINESS_QUESTION] — what you hope this data answers
[SOFTWARE] — Excel, Google Sheets, or other
</context>

Before the checklist, restate what each column appears to contain based on [COLUMNS] and [SAMPLE_ROWS]. Every ambiguous column becomes a numbered question back to the owner — do not guess meanings.

<task>
1. Provenance: 3-4 questions about who collected this, over what period, and what was excluded or filtered before export.
2. Completeness: how to count missing values per column in [SOFTWARE], and which columns matter most for [BUSINESS_QUESTION].
3. Validity: checks for impossible values (negative quantities, future dates), duplicates, and date/number formatting traps — with the exact steps in [SOFTWARE].
4. Distributions and outliers: which 2-3 columns to eyeball, which quick chart to use, and what a worrying shape looks like.
5. Relationships: the 2-3 column pairings worth checking, chosen because they bear on [BUSINESS_QUESTION].
6. Verdict template: trust / partly trust / don't trust yet — with the evidence that would justify each.
7. Close with three lists: what this data CAN answer, what it CANNOT, and the cheapest extra data that would close the gap.
</task>

<output_format>
A numbered worksheet: each step shows the check, how to run it in [SOFTWARE], and what a bad result looks like. Under 700 words.
</output_format>

Rules: the sample proves nothing about the whole — say so. No conclusions about the business from this exercise; missing context becomes [NEEDED: …]. en-AU spelling, plain English.

Copy the block above straight into Claude — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.