Electronics II – Assignment (1)
Lara Mamdouh Abdel-latif | 202124003
1
Part (A):
1. What you mean by data?
Data is a collection of facts, such as numbers, words, measurements, observations or even
just descriptions of things (Data is a value assigned to a thing).
2. Difference between data and information
Data is a collection of raw, unorganised facts and details like text, observations, figures,
symbols and description of things etc. In other words, data does not carry any specific purpose
and has no significance by itself. Moreover, data is measured in terms of bits and bytes – which
are basic units of information in the context of computer storage and processing. While
Information is the processed, organised and structured data. It provides context for data and
enables decision making.
3. What are Data Types and Sources of data?
Types of data:
- Categorical Data: puts the item you are describing into a category: For example, the
condition “used” would be categorical and also categories such as “new”, “used”,
”broken” etc.
- Discrete Data: is numerical data that has gaps in it: e.g. the count of golf balls. There can
only be whole numbers of golf ball (there is no such thing as 0.3 golf balls).
- Continuous Data: is numerical data with a continuous range: e.g. size of the golf balls can
be any value (e.q. 10.53 mm or 10.54 mm but also 10.536 mm). In continuous data, all
values are possible with no gaps in between.
Sources of data:
- Internal: Many institutes and departments have information about their regular functions,
for their own internal purposes, when those information are used in any survey, it is called
internal sources of data.
Examples: Routine surveillance, hospital records
- External: When information is collected from an outside source, this type of information
can be collected by census or sampling, such types of data are either Primary or Secondary
I-Primary data: Collected from first-hand experiences , they are more reliable, authentic
and not been published.
II-Secondary data: Already been collected by others, it is represented by journals,
periodicals, research publication, official record etc.
