VOCABULARY Exercise 8. Read the three texts, do the tasks, and answer the questions. Data, Evidence and Facts Data Data?is?a?set?of?values?of?qualitative?or?quantitative?variables.?Data?is?mea- sured, collected and reported, and analyzed,?whereupon?it?can?be?visualized?
using graphs or images. Data as a general concept refers to the fact that some
existing information or knowledge is represented in?some?form?suitable?for?bet-
ter usage or processing.
Raw data,?i.e.?unprocessed?data,?is?a?collection?of?numbers,?characters.?Field data is raw data that is collected in an uncontrolled in situ environment. Exper- imental data is data that is generated within the context of a scientific investi-
gation?by?observation?and?recording.
The?word?‘data’?used?to?be?considered?the?plural?of?‘datum’,?and?still?is?by?
some English speakers. Nowadays, though, ‘data’ is most commonly used in the
singular, as a mass noun (like ‘information’, ‘sand’ or ‘rain’).
A. Translate from English into Russian the words and word combinations in bold. B. Answer the questions: 1) What is data? What type of data do you plan to collect and analyse for
your research?
2)? What?is?the?difference?between?raw?and?field?data?
3) Will you use experimental data in your research?
Evidence Evidence,?broadly?construed,?is?anything?presented?in?support?of?an?asser- tion.?This?support?may?be?strong?or?weak.?The?strongest?type?of?evidence?is?that?
which provides direct proof of the truth of an assertion. At the other extreme is
evidence?that?is?merely?consistent?with?an?assertion?but?does?not?rule?out?other,?
contradictory assertions, as in circumstantial evidence.
