Data: Information stored and processed by a computer.
Data Source: The origin from which digital data is gathered.
Database: A structured set of data stored in tables.
Table: A collection of data arranged in rows and columns.
Records: Rows in a table, representing one complete set of data entries.
Fields: Columns in a table that store a specific type of data (e.g., name, number).
Form: A user-friendly interface for entering or viewing one record at a time.
Data Dictionary
Data Dictionary: Shows the structure of a table.
Accessible through Design View.
Contains these fields:
Field name
Data type
Description
Data Ethics – How We Use and Protect Data
Data Privacy: Keeping data away from unauthorized individuals.
Example: Password-protecting customer data.
Data Security: Ensuring stored data is safe from loss or theft.
Example: Backing up databases and using secure networks.
Ethical Responsibility: Doing the right thing when using data—being honest and fair; acting within society’s values.
Example: Not sharing someone’s survey answers.
Authenticity: Making sure the data reflects the real world accurately.
Example: Ensuring shoe stock numbers are real and current.
Data Actions – What We Do with Data
Acquire: Obtaining data by typing it in, downloading it, or collecting it.
Example: Importing survey data into Access.
Validate: Checking if the data is correct, in the right format, and makes sense.
Example: Making sure shoe size is a number, not text.
Evaluate: Deciding if the data is useful and relevant for the question or goal.
Analyse: Inspecting and extracting meaning from data.
Data Types
AutoNumber: Automatically assigns a unique number to each record.
Example: With the ProductID field, each shoe gets a unique ID like 1, 2, 3, etc.
Short Text: Stores short pieces of text (up to 255 characters).
Example: ShoeName, Gender, Brand.
Number: Stores numerical data.
Currency: Stores prices or amounts with decimal values.
Example: Price, original price.
Yes/No: Used for filtering stock availability or special status.
Example: IsAvailable, yes (for sizes in stock), no (for sold out sizes).
ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram)
Primary Key: A field that uniquely identifies each record in a table; it cannot be blank or duplicated; default is AutoNumber.
Foreign Key: A field that links to the Primary Key of another table; it shows a relationship between two tables.
Relationship: The connection between two tables, based on Primary Keys and Foreign Keys.
ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram): A visual map that shows how the tables in a database are connected.
ERD Diagram/Relationship
Example:
ShoeID as the Primary Key in Shoe table
ShoeID as the Foreign Key in Stock table
Relationship Type: One-To-Many
Exercise: Relationship Selection
Relationship 'a' connects the Product table (containing the shoe model) to the SizeStock table (listing sizes and availability), which could be used to create a 'Size Availability List' for a given shoe model.