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c. Data input

                                             The clean data is then entered into its destination and translated
                  ◆ Data entry
                                           into a language that it can understand. Data input is the first stage
                                           in which raw data begins to take the form of usable information.

                                             iv. Processing
                                             In this step, the computer takes the information  it received
                                           earlier and starts to work on it. It uses special programs called
                                           machine  learning  algorithms to  make  sense of  the data.  The
                  ◆ Data transformation    way this is done might be a bit different depending on where the
                                           data came from (like data lakes, social networks, or connected
                                           devices) and what we want to do with it (like studying advertising
                                           trends, diagnosing medical  issues from  connected  devices,  or
                                           understanding what customers need).
                                             v. Data output/interpretation
                                             The  output/interpretation  stage  is the  stage  at  which  data

                  ◆ Generation of          is finally usable to non-data scientists. It is translated, readable
                usable results             and often in the form of graphs, video, images, plain text, etc.).
                                           Members of the company or institution can now begin to self-
                                           serve the data for their own data analytics projects.
                                             vi. Data storage and report writing
                                             The final stage of data processing is storage. After the data is
                  ◆ Data warehousing       processed, it is then stored for later on. While some information
                                           may be put to use immediately, much of it will serve a purpose
                                           later on. When data is properly stored, it can be quickly and easily
                                           accessed by members of the organisation when needed.


                                           4.1.2 Methods of Data Processing

                                             Data processing is like organising and sorting information in
                 ◆ Transforms              a research project. First, data is collected  and then edited, put
                irrelevant data to         into categories, and shown in tables or charts. The main goal is to
                relevant                   make the data more manageable and easier to understand. During
                                           this process, irrelevant information is removed so that only the
                                           important stuff remains.
                                           4.1.2.1 Editing of Data

                                             Editing is the first step of data processing. Editing is the process
                                           of  examining  the  data  collected  through  questionnaires  or  any
                                           other method. It starts after all data has been collected to check the
                  ◆ Examination of         collected data or reform into useful data. Editing is done to assure
                collected data             that  the data  are  accurate, consistent  with  other  facts gathered,

                                           uniformly entered, is complete as far as possibleand have been
                                           well arranged to facilitate coding and tabulation.

                                             When  doing  their  work, editors  must  be  familiar  with  both




                 144     SGOU - SLM -MCom Research Methodology
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