Data can be really useful when figuring out the facts about what is happening and how big the influence is. The problem is that there are a lot of individuals and organizations that would gain from persuading people by using misleading layouts of information.
Good things to check are:
When an organization, government, university, company, or individual collects information and organizes it in order to determine patterns. When making a persuasive statement, it is helpful to have data or statistics because they can be cited and used to support your claim.
When presenting a set of numbers, a graph, or percentages in numeric format, that data is considered quantitative. This kind of data is difficult to disagree with since numbers are not based on opinions or feelings.
This kind of data is often in the form of a short answer or paragraph. Qualitative data can be an anecdote or a story that is weighed to prove one side or another. While qualitative data is important and should not be ignored, this kind of data shouldn't be considered factual.