INTERNATIONAL ADVANCED LEVEL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SCHEME OF WORK

Unit 1

Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary in Information Technology (XIT11) Pearson Edexcel
International Advanced Level in Information Technology (YIT11)
First teaching September 2018 First
examination from June 2019
First certification from August 2019 (International Advanced Subsidiary) and August
2020 (International Advanced Level)
 Topic 5: Data and databases

5.1.1 Understand
DATA AND INFORMATION
the difference
between data and We live in the information age. In the same way that the development of industry created the industrial
information. age, the development of information technology systems, and especially the internet, has created the
information age. It has been a long-held belief by many philosophers that knowledge is power and that
knowledge stems from understanding of information; information, in turn, is the assigning of meaning to
data.

What is data?
This refers to as ‘raw’ data – a collection of text, numbers and symbols with no meaning.
Data therefore has to be processed, or provided with a context, before it can have meaning.

Example
• 3, 6, 9, 12
• cat, dog, gerbil, rabbit, cockatoo
• 161.2, 175.3, 166.4, 164.7, 169.3

These are meaningless sets of data. They could be the first four answers in the 3 x table, a list of household pets and
the heights of 15-year-old students but without a context we don’t know.

What is information?

Information is the result of processing data, usually by computer. This results in facts, which enables the
processed data to be used in context and have meaning. Information is data that has meaning.

When does data become information?

Data on its own has no meaning. It only takes on meaning and becomes information when it is interpreted.
Data consists of raw facts and figures. When that data is processed into sets according to context, it
provides information.
Data refers to raw input that when processed or arranged makes meaningful output. Information is usually
the processed outcome of data. When data is processed into information, it becomes interpretable and gains
significance.
In IT, symbols, characters, images, or numbers are data. These are the inputs an IT system needs to
process in order to produce a meaningful interpretation. In other words, data in a meaningful form becomes
information. Information can be about facts, things, concepts, or anything relevant to the topic concerned. It
may provide answers to questions like who, which, when, why, what, and how.
If we put Information into an equation, it would look like this:
Data + Meaning = Information
Comparison Chart

DATA INFORMATION

Meaning Data means raw facts gathered Facts, concerning a particular event or
about someone or something, subject, which are refined by processing is
which is bare and random. called information.

What is it? It is just text and numbers. It is refined data.

Based on Records and Observations Analysis

Form Unorganized Organized

Useful May or may not be useful. Always

Specific No Yes

Dependency Does not depend on information. Without data, information cannot be

processed.

Key Differences Between Data and Information

The points given below are substantial, so far as the difference between data and information is concerned:
1. Raw facts gathered about a condition, event, idea, entity or anything else which is bare and random,
is called data. Information refers to facts concerning a particular event or subject, which are refined
by processing.
2. Data are simple text and numbers, while information is processed and interpreted data.
3. Data is in an unorganized form, i.e. it is randomly collected facts and figures which are processed to
 draw conclusions. On the other hand, when the data is organised, it becomes information, which
presents data in a better way and gives meaning to it.
4. Data is based on observations and records, which are stored in computers or simply remembered by a
person. As against this, information is considered more reliable than data, as a proper analysis is
conducted to convert data into information by the researcher or investigator.
5. The data collected by the researcher, may or may not be useful to him, as when the data is gathered,
it is not known what they are about or what they represent? Conversely, information is valuable and
useful to the researcher because it is presented in the given context and so readily available to the
researcher for use.
6. Data is not always specific to the need of the researcher, but information is always specific to his
requirements and expectations, because all the irrelevant facts and figures are eliminated, during the
transformation of data into information.
7. When it comes to dependency, data does not depend on information. However, information cannot
exist without data.
https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-data-and-information.html

5.1.2 Understand What is structured data?

sources of and  Consist of text files that include very well-organized information.
the difference  Structured data is stored inside of a data warehouse where it can be pulled for analysis.
between  Structured data is both highly-organized and easy to digest
structured and  structured data is made up largely of basic customer data, which includes names, addresses, and contact
unstructured information.
data.  In addition, businesses also collect transaction data as a structured data source, which can consist of
financial information which needs to be stored appropriately to meet compliance standards.
 Structured data is well organized, follows a consistent order, is relatively easy to search and query, and
can be readily accessed and understood by a person or a computer program.
 A classic example of structured data is an Excel spreadsheet with labeled columns. Such structured data
is consistent; column headers — usually brief, accurate descriptions of the content in each column — tell
you exactly what kind of content to expect.
 Structured data is usually stored in well-defined schemas such as databases. It’s usually tabular, with
columns and rows that clearly define its attributes.

What is unstructured data?

 It is made up largely of streaming data coming from social media platforms, mobile applications, location
services, and Internet of Things technologies.
 It lacks an easily definable structure.
 Unstructured data cannot simply be recorded in an Excel spreadsheet or data table, and requires more
specialized skills and tools to work with,
 Unstructured data is data that either does not have a pre-defined data model or is not organized in a
 pre-defined manner.
 Unstructured information is text-heavy, but may contain data such as dates, numbers, and facts as well.
This results in irregularities and ambiguities that make it difficult to understand using traditional
programs as compared to data stored in fielded form in databases or annotated (semantically tagged) in
documents

5.1.3 Understand
the value to Guided research into unstructured data sources and how information might be extracted from them. e.g.:
organisations of  Emails,
extracting  letters, books, newspapers etc.
meaningful  posts on forums, newsgroups, etc
information from  Word Processing Files, PDFs, web pages, etc.
data.  Spreadsheets
 Photos (digital and film), video, audio
Note: some of these may have some structure, e.g. spreadsheets, but they are not regarded as structured
unless all their content can be processed by data mining tools.

5.2.1 Understand Students set up and operate relational databases for a number of tutor set scenarios.
why databases If database software is not available, there are numerous YouTube style videos available showing
are used to how databases are set up and used, but students should still practice database design tasks on
structure data. paper.

5.2.2 Understand
DATABASES
the structure of a
relational  a database is a collection of logically related records
database:  a relational database stores its data in 2-dimensional tables
 tables  a table is a two-dimensional structure made up of rows (tuples, records) and columns attributes, fields)
 primary Example:
keys a table of students engaged in sports activities, where a student is allowed to
 foreign participate in at most one activity
keys  each row is unique and stores data about one entity
 records  row order is unimportant
 fields.  each column has a unique attribute name
 each column (attribute) description (metadata) is stored in the database

Table Characteristics
Primary Keys
• a primary key is an attribute or a collection of attributes whose value(s) uniquely identify each row in a
 relation
• a primary key should be minimal: it should not contain unnecessary attributes

Composite Keys
• a table can only have one primary key
• but sometimes the primary key can be made up of several fields

Foreign Keys
• a foreign key is an attribute or a collection of attributes whose value are intended to match the primary
key of some related record (usually in a different table)

5.2.3 Understand Relations

the concept of ● One to one:
entities and the – Each primary key relates only one record in related table
relationships ● One to many:
between them: – The primary key relates to one or many records in related table
 one-to-one ● Many to Many:
 one-to- – The primary key relates to many records in related table, and a record in related table can relate to many
many primary keys on another table
 many-to-
many. Any object, for example, entities, attributes of an entity, relationship sets, and attributes of relationship
sets, can be represented with the help of an ER diagram.
Entity
Entities are represented by means of rectangles. Rectangles are named with the entity set they represent.

Attributes
Attributes are the properties of entities. Attributes are represented by means of ellipses. Every ellipse
represents one attribute and is directly connected to its entity (rectangle).

If the attributes are composite, they are further divided in a tree like structure. Every node is then
connected to its attribute. That is, composite attributes are represented by ellipses that are connected with
an ellipse.
Multivalued attributes are depicted by double ellipse.

Derived attributes are depicted by dashed ellipse.

Relationship
Relationships are represented by diamond-shaped box. Name of the relationship is written inside the
diamond-box. All the entities (rectangles) participating in a relationship, are connected to it by a line.

Binary Relationship and Cardinality

A relationship where two entities are participating is called a binary relationship. Cardinality is the number
of instance of an entity from a relation that can be associated with the relation.
 One-to-one − When only one instance of an entity is associated with the relationship, it is marked as
'1:1'.
 It depicts one-to-one relationship.

 One-to-many − When more than one instance of an entity is associated with a relationship, it is
marked as '1:N'.
 It depicts one-to-many relationship.
  Many-to-one − When more than one instance of entity is associated with the relationship, it is
marked as 'N:1'.
 It depicts many-to-one relationship.

 Many-to-many − The following image reflects that more than one instance of an entity on the left
and more than one instance of an entity on the right can be associated with the relationship. It
depicts many-to-many relationship.

5.2.4 Be able to
Question:
interpret and
create entity Draw an E-R diagram for a School Library system
relationship
diagrams for a
given scenario.
5.3.1 Understand Students design, set up, and operate SQL based relational databases for a number of tutor set scenarios.
how and why SQL
is used to If SQL database software is not available, there are numerous YouTube style videos available showing
manipulate data how SQL databases are set up and used,
and data
structures.

5.3.2 Know how

SQL
to select and use
appropriate SQL ● Structured Query Language (SQL):
commands, – Is a standard language used to communicate with a relational database.
features, and – Is used in conjunction with procedural or object-oriented languages/scripts such as Java, Perl, Ruby,
functions to Python, etc
manipulate data: ● Sql basic conventions:
 perform – Each statement begins with a command, eg. CREATE,
queries SELECT
and – Each statement ends with delimiter usually a semicolon
subqueries (;)
 create – Statements are written in a free-form style, eg.
tables SELECT...FROM... WHERE...
using – SQL statement is not case-sensitive, except inside string
appropriat constant, eg SELECT...FROM... WHERE SName = 'Yadoll'
e data
types Simple SQL Queries
 populate ● The basic form of SQL Queries is:
tables/inse SELECT select-list (column_name)
rt, amend, FROM from-list (table_name)
delete WHERE condition
 link tables ● Selecting all students with GPA above 1.7
(UNION, SELECT Sid, Sname FROM student WHERE GPA <= 1.7
JOIN) ● Selecting all information from a table
 use SELECT * FROM enrolled
wildcards ● Selecting course name with pattern matching
(% and _) SELECT Cname FROM Courses WHERE Cname LIKE
 grouping, 'Machine %'
ordering,
counting. Simple SQL Queries
● INSERT:
INSERT INTO ˋStudentsˋ VALUES (CL0001, David, david@cis,
1,3 )
INSERT INTO ˋStudentsˋ VALUES (sid, sname, login, gpa )
● ALTER:
ALTER TABLE ˋStudentsˋ ADD ˋIntakeyearˋ
ALTER TABLE ˋLecturerˋ ADD INDEX(ˋcoursesˋ)
● Using logical connectives:
– AND, OR, NOT may be used to construct a condition
SELECT ˋcnameˋ FROM ˋcoursesˋ WHERE semester =
'summer' AND ctype = 'seminar'
● Joining Tables:
– SELECT ˋSnameˋ FROM ˋStudentsˋ, ˋCoursesˋ WHERE
Students.sid = Courses.sid
5.3.2 Know how
to select and use
appropriate SQL
commands,
features, and
functions to
manipulate data.
(continued)