Data

Data in Legal Information Retrieval

The following is a basic concept of Data in relation to information retrieval. In addition to this, Data may be applied to legal texts, including case law, legislation and scholarly works. See datum, data

Direct Data Capture (ddc) in Election Law

Electronic mechanism and equipment, usually in the form of an optical reader that can automatically transfer information from a paper document using optical scanning recognition to the memory of a computer, without the intervention of a manual data entry operator, via keyboard, for example.

Definition of Data in the Context of Record Keeping

Not surprisingly, ‘data’ is a term which has been taken on by the IT industry as one of its own, most probably due to the ancestral link between scientific research and the development of computing. A standard dictionary definition of ‘data’, provided by the Macquarie University, Macquarie Dictionary 2nd Edition, Sydney, 1991, is:

• a series of observations, measurements, or facts; information
• Computer technol. the information operated on by a computer program.

In the IT world ‘data’ is defined, for example in the IBM Dictionary of Computing, McGraw Hill, New York 1994 p. 164, as “a re-interpretable representation of information in a formalised manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing. Operations can be performed upon data by humans or by automatic means”.

Given that ‘data’ does not have a meaning or usage specific to archives and records management the meaning provided in the ‘archival’ dictionary is remarkably similar to the IT dictionary. In the International Council on Archives Dictionary of Archival Terminol. KG Saur Munich, 1988 p. 48, data are “facts or instructions represented in a formalised manner, suitable for transmission, interpretation or processing manually or automatically”.

To complete the circle the main link between data and records is through data elements. Data elements are the primary building blocks for records in electronic systems.

Challenges in Collecting Qualitative Data for Information Systems Studies: Collecting Qualitative Data for Information Systems Studies, the Law and other Social Sciences

In recent years, there has been shift towards understanding why things happen in the way that they do, from the qualitative perspectives. However, the qualitative methods are sometimes considered either too trivial or difficult by many postgraduate students. This is attributed to fact that there is lack of formula or specific procedure in the application of the methods, which manifest from its subjective nature. The subjectivism makes it even more difficult during data collection and analysis, mainly because it requires special skills and knowledge to interrogate the subject within context. Many postgraduate students falls short in their attempts to exhume quality and rich data from the participants in their natural settings as they develop, implement, use and interact with systems. This is the main reason why two empirical studies of the same objectives could possibly produce different results.[1]

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Notes and References

1. Tiko Iyamu, Irja Shaanika, “Challenges in collecting qualitative data for Information Systems studies: Collecting qualitative data for Information Systems studies” (Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, 4th Edition, Information Resources Management Association, 2018)

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See Also

• Election Law
• Electoral Laws
• Electoral Legislation