Definitions
Statistics Canada (2013) defined the term data as “facts or figures from which conclusions can be drawn”. Thus, facts or figures that can support any conclusion cannot be considered a data. Meanwhile, information is “data that have been recorded, classified, organized, related, or interpreted within a frame so that meaning emerges” (Statistics Canada, 2013). Thus, an unorganized or an uninterpreted data are purely data and cannot be considered as information. When meaning or conclusion is derived, only then can data is transformed into an information. Both data and information occur in various forms, oftentimes in a numerical form. In a sense, the meaning of data is included in the meaning of information in a sense that data is component of information because information is an interpreted data.
Impact in quality control processes
Data and information provides a different but related role in impacting the quality control processes. Data provide the raw numerical material obtained from systems interacting with quality control. When these data are transformed into usable information, it can provide details on the factors affecting the current level of product or service quality, which can advise in the attainment of the appropriate level of quality and the very essence of quality control. With the information accessible, an inferential model, for instance, can be created to establish a causality for corrective intervention. This causality will be able to establish a relationship (preferably a linear relationship) between future inputs, which incorporate the corrective intervention, and the future outputs at the acceptable quality level (Aumi, Corbett, Clarke-Pringle, & Mhaskar, 2013). Thus, the manager can initiate, maintain and control quality in any process within the organization.
References
Aumi, S., Corbett, B., Clarke-Pringle, T., Mhaskar, P. (2013, August). Data-driven model predictive quality control of batch processes. AlChE Journal, 59(8), 2852-2861.
Statistics Canada. (2013, July 23). Definitions. Statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved from:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/edu/power-pouvoir/ch1/definitions/5214853-eng.htm.
