What is Data: Definition and 998 Discussions

Data are units of information, often numeric, that are collected through observation. In a more technical sense, data are a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables about one or more persons or objects, while a datum (singular of data) is a single value of a single variable.Although the terms "data" and "information" are often used interchangeably, these terms have distinct meanings. In some popular publications, data are sometimes said to be transformed into information when they are viewed in context or in post-analysis. However, in academic treatments of the subject data are simply units of information. Data are used in scientific research, businesses management (e.g., sales data, revenue, profits, stock price), finance, governance (e.g., crime rates, unemployment rates, literacy rates), and in virtually every other form of human organizational activity (e.g., censuses of the number of homeless people by non-profit organizations).
Data are measured, collected and reported, and analyzed, and from data visualizations such as graphs, tables or images are produced. Data as a general concept refers to the fact that some existing information or knowledge is represented or coded in some form suitable for better usage or processing. Raw data ("unprocessed data") is a collection of numbers or characters before it has been "cleaned" and corrected by researchers. Raw data needs to be corrected to remove outliers or obvious instrument or data entry errors (e.g., a thermometer reading from an outdoor Arctic location recording a tropical temperature). Data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the next stage. Field data is raw data that is collected in an uncontrolled "in situ" environment. Experimental data is data that is generated within the context of a scientific investigation by observation and recording.
Data has been described as the new oil of the digital economy.

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  1. B

    Non-uniformly sampled transfer function data

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  2. M

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  3. ZahraKad

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  4. Y

    Fitting data to complicated model

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  5. T

    How do I calculate the error of my data?

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  6. S

    Excel spreadsheet that prevents using data

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  7. Y

    Does Data in Informatics TRULY Have Temperature?

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  8. G

    C: How to allocate memory for char*** data type

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  9. F

    C Data Types: Are int x=3 & float y=3.0 Equal?

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  10. O

    Free Software for Visualizing Data

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  11. Semidevilz

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  12. G

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  13. A

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  14. F

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  15. F

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  16. G

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  17. S

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  18. Dr. Strange

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  19. J

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  20. Tone L

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  21. wololo

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  22. DuckAmuck

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  23. U

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  24. J

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  25. Alettix

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  26. W

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  27. Steven Ellet

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  28. Maria_Porto

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  29. A

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  30. A

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  31. L

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  32. J

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  33. C

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  34. P

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  35. RJLiberator

    Strength/Weakness of Each Method to Collect Earth data

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  36. nomadreid

    "Cannot create Application Data Folder" (Skype debugging)

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  37. D

    Normalisation of Experimental Data

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  38. A

    A Is Multiverse proven by Plank data?

    Hi guys, On Wikipedia I found this article: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/planck-univ...-holman-468831 The map showed anomalies that cosmologists believe could only have been caused by the gravitational pull of other universes outside our own. "These anomalies were caused by other universes...
  39. C

    C/C++ C++ Online Store Program (Private vs Public data)

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  40. ElijahRockers

    Joining together data from two different MRI protocols

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  41. G

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  42. E

    Can someone help me to find some data?

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  43. J

    Mathematica: Animate multiple sets of XY data

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  44. 24forChromium

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  45. G

    Experimental data modelling off-road vehicle travel

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  46. E

    MHB Searching for connect-the-dots data

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  47. RJLiberator

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  48. Tone L

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  49. A

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  50. A

    PhD in astro to become a data scientist?

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