Dirty data, also known as rogue data, are inaccurate, incomplete or inconsistent
data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
, especially in a computer system or
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
.
Dirty data can contain such mistakes as spelling or punctuation errors, incorrect data associated with a field, incomplete or outdated data, or even data that has been duplicated in the database. They can be cleaned through a process known as
data cleansing
Data cleansing or data cleaning is the process of detecting and correcting (or removing) corrupt or inaccurate records from a record set, table, or database and refers to identifying incomplete, incorrect, inaccurate or irrelevant parts of the dat ...
.
Dirty Data (Social Science)
In sociology, dirty data refer to secretive data the discovery of which is discrediting to those who kept the data secret. Following the definition of Gary T. Marx, Professor Emeritus of MIT, dirty data are one among four types of data:
* Nonsecretive and nondiscrediting data:
**Routinely available information.
* Secretive and nondiscrediting data:
**Strategic and fraternal secrets, privacy.
* Nonsecretive and discrediting data:
** sanction immunity,
** normative dissensus,
** selective dissensus,
** making good on a threat for credibility,
** discovered dirty data.
* Secretive and discrediting data: Hidden and dirty data.
See also
*
Data janitor
*
Signal noise
In electronics, noise is an unwanted disturbance in an electrical signal.
Noise generated by electronic devices varies greatly as it is produced by several different effects.
In particular, noise is inherent in physics, and central to the ...
References
Data quality
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