Data and Information

WHAT IS DATA?

Data can be defined as a representation of facts, concepts or instructions in a formalized manner, which should be suitable for communication, interpretation or processing by human or electronic machine.

Data is represented with the help of characters like alphabets (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9) or special characters (+,-,/,*,<,>,=, etc.).

Data is a raw form of knowledge and, on its own, doesn’t carry any significance or purpose. In other words, you have to interpret data for it to have meaning. Data can be simple—and may even seem useless until it is analyzed, organized, and interpreted.

There are two main types of data:

Quantitative data is provided in numerical form, like the weight, volume, or cost of an item.
Qualitative data is descriptive but non-numerical, like the name, sex, or eye color of a person.

WHAT IS INFORMATION?

Information is organised or classified data so that it has some meaningful values to the receiver.
Information is the processed data on which decisions and actions are based.
For the decision to be meaningful, the processed data must qualify the following characteristics:

• Timely - Information should be available when required.
• Accuracy - Information should be accurate.
• Completeness - Information should be complete.