Unit One: Outcome One

Data and Information

Collecting Data – use for information systems Eg. Doctors Surgery, School Admin, YouTube Upload, etc.

            There are two types of data:

Qualitative (Quality) -          Cannot be measured or counted (Example: feelings, descriptive text, observed change, colour, etc.) -          Qualitative data is less easy to process and is often represented in text

Quantitative (Quantity) -          Can be measured or counted and represented as a value -          Quantitative data is easy to process (Example: Spreadsheet)

Primary & Secondary Sources:

·         Primary Sources of data come directly from the origin.

Eg: interview users of a website

·         Secondary Sources come from a previously published document.

Eg: academic journals, newspapers, reference texts, etc.

In the development of an information system, we need to collect our data from primary sources.

            Examples:

1.    To create this computing class, we surveyed the students of year 10 to decide who would make up the class. (Quantitative Data)

2.    The board of the school is surveying all the staff on their opinions on the school management. Comments are included. (Qualitative Data)

Collecting Data

·         Surveys/Questionaries: Allows for limited feedback, options for answers. Very easy to analyse and quantify.

·         Focus Groups: Gathering potential customers/clients/audience (stakeholders) to discuss the nature of issues related to the problem/decision.

·         Interviews: Questions that allows and open ended response – allowing for new information to come to light. Complex data needs mover processing before it can be used.

·         Observations: Watching current practices play out to observe and identify

·         Experiments: Running test data or a practice task such as a ‘Drill’, example client, physical task.

·         Case Study: Story from someone’s experience. These can highlight issues experienced by individuals about conflict, dilemmas and vary between contexts.

Example: Difference – context

·         Aboriginal Organisation in NT

·         Citibank Corp