#BISCUIT BOOKS AGE LEVEL HOW TO#
#BISCUIT BOOKS AGE LEVEL SERIES#

Of course, because we are dealing with data, it gets more complicated in that there are many different ways of organising data in a structured way. Structured data conforms to a data model, a very well defined way of organising the data that makes the data easy to search and manipulate by a computer. Actually, all data has some structure - it wouldn’t be data without some structure - so this distinction is really a computer’s view of data. Structured and unstructuredĪnother way to think about data is to consider whether the data is structured or unstructured. If we intend to perform statistical tests on data it is important to know whether the data is quantitative or qualitative because different tests are used. For example we might be interested in different categories of fish: cod, herring and trout, or about sizes of clothes: xxs, xs, s,m,l,xl and xxl. Qualitative data is data that cannot be represented numerically. The latter is known as continuous because things like temperature are continuous and 20.5☌ makes perfect sense. The first of these examples is known as discrete, as each value is distinct you can’t really have half a person working for a company (and which half, the top half?).

Quantitative data, as its name implies, is about data that can be clearly quantified, such as the number of people working for a company, or the day’s temperature. You have to have your teeth in to pronounce these with ease! We are going to talk about broad categories of data, which may be thought of or handled differently, and it’s still complicated! Qualitative and quantitative These various types and ways to talk about data makes data just plain complicated and we’re not even going right down into the weeds to talk about data types – things like integers, strings and floating point.

#BISCUIT BOOKS AGE LEVEL HOW TO#

There are lots of different ways to talk about the various data types and how to crumble the cookie.

The term ‘data’ tends to be applied to whole data sets or groups of data. So in general usage, it can be used as singular and plural. So true of Latin but English is about as well-organised and well-constructed as the average Excel spreadsheet (for those who rarely, if ever, use Excel, the answer is not very). Is data plural or singular? Ah, you say, datum is singular so data must be plural, QED. (Definition source: Cambridge Dictionary) One data or lots of data?

Now the data is/are being transferred from magnetic tape to hard disk.

The data was/were collected by various researchers.

Information, especially facts or numbers, collected to be examined and considered and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and used by a computer: In this book it’s worth saying that we are only dealing with data in the digital sense and are not delving into the weeds as this is only a small book and we need to draw the line somewhere. Data is also critical to the nation as a whole, and Dstl recognises the need to raise awareness of its importance, and the need to treat it as a valuable asset. How we collect, manage, use and hold data, are areas where we continually strive to improve. We work collaboratively with external partners in industry and academia worldwide, providing expert research, specialist advice and operational support.ĭata is critical to Dstl. Dstl supplies specialist services to the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and wider government. The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory ( Dstl) is one of the principal government organisations dedicated to science and technology ( S&T) in the defence and security field. We hope you find the Biscuit Book informative and digestible, although we do not suggest dunking it in your tea! Defence Science and Technology Laboratory It aims to provide the essential information, without ever being too technical.

#BISCUIT BOOKS AGE LEVEL SERIES#

The Biscuit Book is arranged as a series of easily digestible chunks that each cover a topic.

This guide is what we call a Biscuit Book, something you can pick up and dip into with a tea and biscuit.

Biscuit books age level