preview

Information Based Decision Making Essay

Better Essays

| Information based decision making | Unit 5002V1 | | | 4/1/2015 |

Task 1 (600-700 words):

A.C.1.1 – Examine the nature of data and information

Data comprises of factual information. Data are the facts from which information is derived. Data is not necessarily informative on its own but needs to be structured, interpreted, analysed and contextualised. Once data undergoes this process, it transforms in to information. Information should be accessible and understood by the reader without needing to be interpreted or manipulated in any way.

Knowledge is the framework for understanding information and using it to inform judgements, opinions, predictions and decisions – a pyramidal relationship (See diagram 1)

Diagram …show more content…

Therefore, I prefer circular model (Diagram 2) of the relationship as knowledge can influence what data is collected thus generating information to enhance knowledge that in turn can generate more data.

There are different types of data and information. These are examined in Table 1:

Type of data | Definition | Pros | Cons | Qualitative data/ information | A rich and detailed method to capture how and why people behave in certain ways and the impact of these processes on behaviour. | Captures participant’s lived experiences.Allows a deeper understanding of a topic.Smaller sample sizes so less expensive to do.Takes researcher bias in to account – an ethical strengthCan help to provide new ideas to shape a service for people. | Smaller sample sizes, so less generalizable to larger populations.Not possible to create statistics – which can help to shape and plan service effectiveness and deliveryTime consumingDifficult to make comparisons within the sample.Poor re-test reliabilityResults vulnerable to researcher bias and experience. | Quantitative data/ information | Analysis of numerical data to explain outcome, prevalence, frequency, time, cost. | Based on explicit knowledge and this can be easy and fast to capture and analyse.Results can be generalised to larger populationsCan be repeated – therefore good test re-test reliability and validityStatistical analyses and interpretation are

Get Access