tedster - 12:43 am on Dec 17, 2012 (gmt 0)

@xcoder, I almost always work with both a JavaScript analytics tool AND direct server log analysis. For working with raw logs, I use a form of grep plus MACH5's FastStats - which is kind of like grep on steroids. A great text editor that can work with gigabyte-sized files is also essential. Different kinds of tools often show wide disagreement, but if a user-agent request hits the server logs, then you know you got that traffic for sure, whatever it is.

With complex questions, especially time-based questions, I often prefer to dig into the raw logs, because I often come up with questions I can't answer using JavaScript tools. Maybe I'm old fashioned because I've been using raw logs since 1995 or so. And maybe it's because the sites I work with have such a variety of Analytics that it's hard to master all of them. I wouldn't know how to dig into these questions very well using Adobe Site Catalyst, for example.

No two Analytics tools give the same results, from what I've seen when my clients make a transition. Whatever tools people use, I wanted to focus readers on those key questions - and then mention that the kind of Analytics tools you use can be a factor in the answers you find, too.