Raw Data

Raw Data is a colloquialism that usually refers to data stored in a completely disaggregated format (i.e., where each observation's data can be viewed).

Raw typically does not mean that the data has not been processed. Rather, it means that the data has not been aggregated, and, by implication, that the data is in some sense complete, without key information having been lost during data processing.

Raw data can be stored in may formats, but typically it is converted to a Flat Data File format prior to being used in data science.

Also known as

• Individual Records
• Unit data file
• Case-level data
• Respondent data
• Element-level data set