Data are facts and statistics collected for references, the quantities, characters, or symbols on which operations are performed by a computer, being stored, and transmitted in the form of electrical signals and recorded on magnetic, optical, or mechanical recording media; things known or assumed as facts, making the basis of reasoning or calculation or analysis according to the Oxford Language Dictionary.
From the data definition, we can infer that data is factual information (e.g., measurements and statistics) used for reasoning, discussion, or calculations. Different forms of data exist, like numbers, text recordings on paper, bits or bytes stored in electronic memory, or facts living in a person’s mind. Since the computer era, data refers to information transmitted and stored electronically, which can enhance movement or processing (information converted into binary form); for example, individual prices, weights, addresses, ages, etc.
Data differs from information because data is a group of facts, and information offers context. There is a one-sided relationship between information and data; information depends on data, but data doesn't.
Business data has different formats, such as relational databases and social media. In addition, data can be structured data and unstructured data.
Structured Data vs Unstructured Data
| Structured Data | Unstructured Data |
|---|---|
| Organized and formatted in a specific way | Lacks specific structure or format |
| Well-organized with a defined format, such as tables and columns | Lacks a predefined format and is unorganized |
| Highly accessible, and easily retrieved by using SQL or other database tools | Less accessible, requires advanced techniques for extraction and analysis |
| Easy to analyze by using traditional statistical methods and data mining techniques | Requires advanced techniques such as Machine Learning or natural language processing (NLP) for analysis |
| Limited scalability | Highly scalable |
| Examples: Customer information, transaction records, inventory lists, financial data | Examples: e-mails, social media posts, multimedia files, sensor data |
| It can be used in Business Intelligence, data analytics, financial reporting | It can be used in Sentiment Analysis, social media monitoring, text mining |
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