Data vs information
- Data: 38, 41, 37, 39. Meaningless alone.
- Information: a patient's temperature in °C over four hours; 41 is dangerously high.
Asking questions and collecting data
TheoryPresent ▶
What this lesson covers
Topic 18 Data, spreadsheets and AI
KS3 Computing · Data is raw facts. Information is data with meaning. Spreadsheets calculate, databases store and search, and AI learns patterns from examples.
Managing DataCambridge Lower Secondary Computing 0860
You will learn to
- Write a question about the class that data can answer, like 'How long do we sleep?'.
- Design a form where each question collects one type of data: number, text, date or yes/no.
- Explain why choosing from a list gives cleaner data than free typing.
- Explain why a class survey should be anonymous and ask only what it needs.
Success criteria
- I can write one clear question that the data can answer.
- I can say the data type of every question on my form.
- I can change a free-text question into a number or a choice question.
Key words
Say each word, then read what it means. Every one is in the glossary too.
- Formula
- A spreadsheet calculation. Always starts with =.
- Function
- A subroutine that returns a value.
- Record / field
- One row in a database table: everything stored about one thing.
- Primary key
- A field whose value is unique for every record.
- SQL
- Structured Query Language: asks databases questions.
- Machine learning
- The computer finds rules itself from labelled examples.
The explanation
Read it here, or open the study page below to go one step at a time with things to try.
The data science cycle
- Ask a question.
- Collect data.
- Clean it: duplicates, typos, impossible values.
- Analyse: averages, sorting, charts.
- Conclude, honestly.
!Watch out
A link between two things (correlation) doesn't prove one causes the other.
Study it
Open the study page and go one step at a time.
Check yourself
One question at a time. The reason shows after each answer.
Saved on this device.