Saturday, June 25, 2016

What is the difference between data and information?

Data and information are interrelated terms, yet are different from each other. Data refers to qualitative or quantitative values of a given parameter. It is the raw data or raw content. It is typically in an unprocessed form. Data after processing and analysis is known as information. An example is the attendance of students in a course (or grade or level) over a period of time. If we just collect the attendance, it will form...

Data and information are interrelated terms, yet are different from each other. Data refers to qualitative or quantitative values of a given parameter. It is the raw data or raw content. It is typically in an unprocessed form. Data after processing and analysis is known as information. An example is the attendance of students in a course (or grade or level) over a period of time. If we just collect the attendance, it will form data. When we tabulate it and analyze it and present it in a more meaningful form, such as statistics or graphs; it becomes information. We can derive some information such as average attendance, peak attendance, etc., from the data.


Information is used to make decisions and plan processes. For example, we can plan a motivational session if the attendance is really low or take some corrective actions, etc.


Hope this helps. 

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