I
Data
Data are where science and statistics begin. In software engineering, data-based
decision making makes the difference between maturity and immaturity, profes-
sionalism and unprofessionalism. Data contain the seeds of knowledge. Data must
be fostered and used. In Section I of this book, we present basic properties of data
and discuss data quality.
In Chapter 1, we discuss data and descriptive statistics, a smart way to sum-
marize data and see the hidden meaning. Chapter 2 is about detecting truth in
data by spotting its central tendency. Chapter 3 presents ways of understand-
ing data dispersion. Chapter 4 is devoted to Tukey’s box plot, a brilliant explor-
atory data analysis tool. Data, once collected, must be processed by the techniques
given in these four chapters.