REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES OF DATA

HANDLING,PRESENTATION AND FORMATTING.

INTRODUCTION.
During and after the completion of a research project, data handling is the process of ensuring that
research data is retained, preserved, or disposed of in a safe and secure manner. This covers the
creation of policies and processes for managing data handled both electronically and non-
electronically.
Data presentation is described as the process of visually representing the relationship between two
or more data sets in various graphical representations so that an informed choice may be made
based on them.

Data Handling and Presentation

The food of statistics is data. Any piece of information, regardless of how it is displayed or
represented, is referred to as data1. A datum can be a piece of text like a name or an address, as well
as a number or a numerical expression. A record is formed when a group of related data items are
linked together; each individual data item is then referred to as a field inside the record. A table or
database is made up of many records.
Data must be obtained, captured, and recorded in a methodical manner for it to be meaningful and
useful2. Data handling is the term for this. Data entry forms on a computer screen or orderly
recording on a sheet of paper are both examples of data handling.
Data integrity means putting data in its proper format in its proper place.
Data accuracy means that every element of the data is correct whether it be the spelling of a text
item, a digit in a number or the proper position of the decimal place within a number.
Data validation is a system of checking that the item of data is consistent and meaningful.
Accuracy, integrity and validation are essential to proper data handling.
We can store zillions of pieces of data and records on modern computers with great ease. Such data
is useless in and of itself unless we can convey it3. Data can be presented in a variety of ways, from
a simple list to ordered tables to graphical outputs such as charts in a variety of formats. When it
comes to displaying data, we should look for approaches that clearly explain the meaning and are
easy to understand. Numerous data display possibilities are accessible in readily available software
tools. The art of data presentation is selecting from a large number of options in order to create
clarity while avoiding the temptation to be overly smart or showy.
Some data can be presented well with little or no manipulation; others require data to be treated to
one or more forms of analysis before being presented. Some data's implicit information is clear; for
others, it must be "mined" - that is, the data must be dug up and analysed using more or less
advanced mathematical (statistical) procedures before its meaning can be discerned. Data
interpretation and analysis is what changes data into information and justifies the effort and time
spent processing data.
Data handling is critical for guaranteeing the integrity of research data because it addresses
concerns about confidentiality, security, and research data preservation/retention. Data storage,
retrieval, and disposal may all be made more efficient and cost-effective with proper planning. Data
integrity is a fundamental concern when dealing with electronic data to guarantee that it is not
manipulated, destroyed, lost, or accessed by unauthorised users.
Data integrity issues can be identified and handled early on.
Both electronic and non-electronic systems, such as paper files, journals, and laboratory notes, are
affected by data processing concerns. Computer workstations and laptops, personal digital assistants
(PDAs), storage media such as videotape, diskette, CD, DVD, memory cards, and other electronic
equipment are all examples of electronic systems. Because these systems can be used for data
storage, archival, sharing, and disposal, appropriate planning is required at the start of a research
project so that data integrity issues can be identified and handled early on.

Consideration in data handling

Issues that should be considered in ensuring integrity of data handled include the following:
• Type of data handled and its impact on the environment (especially if it is on a toxic media).
• Type of media containing data and its storage capacity, handling and storage requirements,
reliability, longevity (in the case of degradable medium), retrieval effectiveness, and ease of
upgrade to newer media.
• Data handling responsibilities/privileges, that is, who can handle which portion of data, at
what point during the project, for what purpose, etc.
• Data handling procedures that describe how long the data should be kept, and when, how,
and who should handle data for storage, sharing, archival, retrieval and disposal purposes.
To ensure that data is kept, archived, or disposed of in a safe and secure manner that preserves the
integrity of research data while also simplifying data administration, proper planning, establishment
of processes, and training and supervision of research employees are required.

Formatting data
Information is organised according to predetermined criteria (usually for computer processing) data
format, format, and formatting are synonyms. high-level formatting kinds (in computer science) the
root directory's format, as well as file allocation tables and other fundamental parameters.
Introduction to Data Formatting in Excel
Excel data formatting is incredibly handy since it allows us to format data in whatever way we
desire. We can adjust the format of data to conform to standards or meet our needs. This ensures
consistency in terms of font type, shape, alignment, and font colour. This is commonly used in all
forms of labour, such as official documents, report writing, and anything else that needs to be
printed. If everything is in the standard format, other people will be able to read and understand the
message correctly.
 Learning Objectives
1. Use formatting techniques as introduced in the Excel Spreadsheet Guidelines to enhance the
appearance of a worksheet.
2. Understand how to align data in cell locations.
3. Examine how to enter multiple lines of text in a cell location.
4. Understand how to add borders to a worksheet.
5. Examine how to use the AutoSum feature to calculate totals.
6. Use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands to manipulate the data on a worksheet.
7. Understand how to move, rename, insert, and delete worksheet tabs.

Practices of formatting the data/report in excel:

• The column heading/row heading is a very important part of the report. It describes the
information about data. Thus, the heading should be in bold. The shortcut key is CTRL + B.
It’s also available in the Font section in the toolbar.
• The header font size should be larger than the other content of the data.
• The header field background color should be other than white color so that it should be
properly visible in the data.
• Make the outline border of the heading field. There are a lot of border styles. For border
style, Go to the Font section and click on an icon as per the below screenshot:

• Benefits of Data Formatting in Excel:

• Data looks more presentable.
• Through formatting, we can highlight specific data like profit or loss in business.
• Through the chart, we can easily analyze the data.
• Data Formatting saves a lot of time and effort.

Things to Remember
• There are a lot of shortcut keys available for data formatting in excel. Through which we can
save a lot of time and effort.
• CTRL+B – BOLD
• CTRL+I – ITALIC
• CTRL+U – UNDERLINE
• ALT+H+B – Border Style
• CTRL+C – Copy the data, CTRL+X – Cut the data, CTRL+V – Paste the data.
• ALT+H+V – It will open the paste dialog box. Here a lot of paste options available.
• When we insert the chart for the data as we created in Example 3, it will open the chart tools
menu. Through this option, we can do the formatting of the chart as per our requirements.
• Excel provides a very interesting feature through which we can do a quick analysis of our
data. For this, Select the data and do the right-click. It will open a list of items. Select the
“Quick Analysis” option.
 • It will open the conditional formatting toolbox.

We may use this option to add more criteria to the data, such as whether the data is less than 40 or
larger than 60, and see how the data looks under this condition.

Recommended Articles
This has been an Excel formatting tutorial. We'll go over how to format data in Excel, as well as
provide Excel examples and templates to download. You may also take a look at these useful Excel
features —
1. Excel VBA Format
2. Format Cells in Excel
3. Excel Conditional Formatting for Dates
4. Excel Date Format

Final thoughts on data management

Explanation: Data processing can lead to more efficient and cost-effective data storage and
retrieval.
Data management is significant in mathematics since it focuses on real-world circumstances and is
useful in a variety of ways.
During and after the completion of a research project, data handling is the process of ensuring that
research data is retained, preserved, or disposed of in a safe and secure manner.
The frequency of a data value is the number of times it appears in a certain period of time.

References
➢ University of Washington. "Is Your Computer Safe?" Computing & Communications
Windows on Technology, No. 27, June 2002. 18 Nov. 2003.
http://www.washington.edu/computing/windows/issue27/safe.html
➢ Greiner, Lynn. "Preventing data theft " Computer Dealer News, February 22, 2002, Vol. 18
No. 3. 21 Nov. 2003. http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=47850
➢ Office of Research Integrity. "Data Management Guidelines Issued by British Medical
Research Council" September 2001, Vol. 9, No. 4. 20 Nov. 2003.
http://ori.dhhs.gov/html/resources/britishmed.asp
➢ Source: University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center At Dallas Date: 2000-10-10
Collecting Research Data On Computer Wave Of Future, UT Southwestern Researchers
Report In Jama http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/10/001010071729.htm
➢ RCR Education Consortium (2004). Accessed on April 15, 2004. http://rcrec.org/index.php?
module=ContentExpress&func=display&bid=24&btitle=Navigation&mid=29&ceid=2
 RAJAGIRI COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
(AUTONOMUOS)

REPORT ON DATA
HANDLING ,PRESENTATION AND
FORMATTING

NAME: ATIMANGO JACKLINE

BATCH: B.COM COMPUTER APPLICATION