The popular image of the scientist has not caught up with modern thinking about how science is conducted. In their analysis there is a right way to do science and a wrong way - and the science of popular conception is the wrong way. When you understand the distinction between these approaches, you will see more clearly what role data play in these methods. We are numbered, analysed and surveyed throughout our lives, and the results are stored and analysed. We have in some senses become a part of the statistics that largely define modern society.
All governments do, for reasons both laudable and questionable.
Commercial organisations collect data to improve their economic prospects by offering the goods or services that potential customers seem to want. Researchers collect data to further their understanding of the workings of our social and economic systems. Physical scientists collect data to further their understanding of how the world functions. The latter is a matter of some philosophic importance, and we will also return to it shortly. Establishing the parameters of a system When we investigate natural and social systems we often start with no clear idea of how the system functions.