What is data, anyway?

Young and naïve questions should be asked more often, especially in science, because they show: it’s not all that simple. This summer, we have been looking at our documents for the project, getting feedback from young people and working on answering some important questions.

I would like to play the ball back here…

So, dear students: what are dates? More than a date?

Not quite. We know that you have to take care of it somehow, especially on the internet. It would be good to have as much volume as possible, and if you give it away carelessly, it will magically display exactly the „right“ advertisements.

Now the scientists: what is data? One or more matrices of numbers? Documented information or the basis of a quantitative or qualitative analysis?

According to the dictionary, data are (obtained through observations, measurements, statistical surveys, etc.) [numerical] values, (based on observations, measurements, statistical surveys, etc.) information, formulable findings.

Aha! If it is still not clear to you, perhaps the Duden’s example will help: „please give us your data“.

Perhaps you are now wondering why we are writing about data here.

Data is a very important part of our project. In the course of the project, we ask you all kinds of different questions in three questionnaires – in other words, we collect data about you. Because you are the experts for yourselves and for your school. We want to find out how you think about different social issues and what is important to you at your school. We are particularly interested in your relationships, who you are friends with and who you tend to avoid.

This is very personal information about you, but your data is safe because there is data protection 😉 .

This means that we handle your data confidentially and don’t tell anyone what you have answered.

You can find more information about the surveys and our efforts to explain what seems to be clear to everyone, but then isn’t, in the FAQs here on the site. We’d love for you to take a look around.