Understanding Data
Data can be facts and statistics which are collected for reference or analysis. They can be collected by you as part of your research, or by others. Organisations that collect data include government departments and research organizations.
The types of data you may find can be:
| Quantitative | Discreet | Can be counted e.g. the number of books in a library |
| Continuous | Can be measured e.g. height, weight or time | |
| Qualitative | Nominal | Lists which cannot be ordered or measured |
| Ordinal | Ordered units of data e.g. sequential - first, second, third | |
| Ethnographic | Interviews | |
| Audio recordings | ||
| Photographs | ||
| Geospatial | Objects | They have a location on the Earth's surface |
| Events | They have a location on the Earth's surface | |
| Phenomena | They have a location on the Earth's surface |
What is data literacy?
Data literacy refers to the ability to read, work, analyze and communicate data.
Data can come in various formats - audio, visual, text or graphic – and it is very important to know how to read, interpret and use data as a data consumer, as well as manage and share data as a data producer.
Statistics is the science of collecting and analysing numerical data in large quantities. If you would like to know more about statistical methods, read the library maths and stats guide, Resources for Mathematics and Statistics in the related links above.