3.1 - Data vs Information

The General Reference
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While the terms 'data' and 'information' are often used to mean the same thing, they do have slightly different meanings:

Data:

  • Raw, unprocessed facts
  • Figures, statistics, numbers that have not been analysed or interpreted
  • Often meaningless without context
    • Census statistics
    • Survey results
    • Customer names

Information:

  • Processed and interpreted data
  • Statistics that have been analysed and assigned meaning
  • More useful than data as it has context
    • News articles
    • Research papers
    • Maps with points of interest
Overall, data is raw, unprocessed facts and figures, whereas information is data that has been processed, organized, and interpreted to become useful and meaningful.

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