The Relationships Between Data, Information and Knowledge Based on a Preliminary Study of Engineering Designers

Abstract

Abstract The aerospace industry, along with other industries, has acknowledged the need to bridge the experience gap between novice and experienced designers [Moore, 1997]. The research aims to identify the support a novice designer requires to gain experience faster. The focus of this paper is to present some initial results of a study of novice and experienced designers. This initial study highlighted the difficulty in establishing consistent and precise usage for the terms data, information and knowledge. It is concluded that data, information and knowledge are relative concepts that cannot be defined in absolute terms. As relative concepts, these help differentiate experts and novices, and different types of novices. The relationships between data, information and knowledge are examined with the aim of prompting a discussion.