CIMA BA1 Syllabus C. Informational Context Of Business - Data vs information - Notes
Data vs information
Data is the raw material for data processing.
Data relate to numbers, raw facts, events and transactions which have been recorded but not yet processed into a form suitable for use.
Data on its own is meaningless.
Information is data that has been processed in such a way as to be meaningful to the person who receives it.
Quantitative Or Qualitative
Data can be either quantitative or qualitative, as can information.
If data can be measured, it is quantitative
eg value of sales per day
If it cannot be measured, then it is qualitative
eg it reflects some characteristic, for example, the colour of a product.
Discrete and continuous data
Discrete data
can only take specific values
For example, the number of products sold in a month must be a whole number.
Continuous data can take any numerical value
For example, the weight of a consignment of products could be measured to any degree of accuracy.