Information vs. Inquiry — What's the Difference?

Information is processed data that has been organized and presented to provide meaning.

Inquiry is the act of asking questions to gain information or understanding.

Information is stored, processed, and transmitted by computers.

Used to diagnose or explore solutions.

Considered valuable in various fields for analysis and insight.

It's a fundamental component of scientific and academic research.

It serves as a basis for communication and decision-making.

Encourages active learning by asking questions.

Information is the core of learning materials.

Involves seeking, questioning, and investigating.

Information can be thought of as the resolution of uncertainty; it answers the question of "What an entity is" and thus defines both its essence and the nature of its characteristics. The concept of information has different meanings in different contexts.

An inquiry (also spelled as enquiry in British English) is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ways that each type of inquiry achieves its aim.

Knowledge or facts learned, especially about a certain subject or event.

The act of inquiring

The act of informing or the condition of being informed; communication of knowledge

A question; a query

(Computers) Processed, stored, or transmitted data.

A close examination of a matter

A numerical measure of the uncertainty of an experimental outcome.

The act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning.

(Law) A formal accusation of a crime made by a public officer rather than by grand jury indictment in instances in which the offense, if a federal crime, is not a felony or in which the offense, if a state crime, is allowed prosecution in that manner rather than by indictment.

Search for truth, information, or knowledge; examination of facts or principles; research; investigation

That which resolves uncertainty; anything that answers the question of "what a given entity is".

The act of inquiring; a seeking for information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning.

Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something.

Search for truth, information, or knowledge; examination into facts or principles; research; investigation; as, physical inquiries.

The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification.

A search for knowledge;

A statement of criminal activity brought before a judge or magistrate; in the UK, used to inform a magistrate of an offence and request a warrant; in the US, an accusation brought before a judge without a grand jury indictment.

An instance of questioning;

(obsolete) The act of informing against someone, passing on incriminating knowledge; accusation.

A systematic investigation of a matter of public interest

The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training.

The creation of form; the imparting of a given quality or characteristic; forming, animation.

[…] the meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known conventions used in its representation.

(Christianity) Divine inspiration.

A service provided by telephone which provides listed telephone numbers of a subscriber.

(information theory) Any unambiguous abstract data, the smallest possible unit being the bit.

As contrasted with data, information is processed to extract relevant data.

(information technology) Any ordered sequence of symbols (or signals) (that could contain a message).

The act of informing, or communicating knowledge or intelligence.

Any fact or set of facts, knowledge, news, or advice, whether communicated by others or obtained by personal study and investigation; any datum that reduces uncertainty about the state of any part of the world; intelligence; knowledge derived from reading, observation, or instruction.

A proceeding in the nature of a prosecution for some offense against the government, instituted and prosecuted, really or nominally, by some authorized public officer on behalf of the government. It differs from an indictment in criminal cases chiefly in not being based on the finding of a grand jury. See Indictment.

A measure of the number of possible choices of messages contained in a symbol, signal, transmitted message, or other information-bearing object; it is usually quantified as the negative logarithm of the number of allowed symbols that could be contained in the message; for logarithms to the base 2, the measure corresponds to the unit of information, the hartley, which is log210, or 3.323 bits; called also information content. The smallest unit of information that can be contained or transmitted is the bit, corresponding to a yes-or-no decision.

Useful facts, as contrasted with raw data; as, among all this data, there must be some interesting information.

A message received and understood

A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn;

Knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction

(communication theory) a numerical measure of the uncertainty of an outcome;

Formal accusation of a crime

Inquiry can initiate without specific information but seeks to discover or generate new information through its process.

Much of the information is a result of inquiry, but some information can also be obtained through observation, experimentation, or documentation without a direct inquiry.

Information is processed data that provides meaning, while inquiry is the act of seeking information through questions.

Technology facilitates the storage, processing, and retrieval of information, and provides tools that enhance the inquiry process through access to vast resources.

Yes, as new data is collected and analyzed, information can be updated, revised, or expanded.

A scientific research study asking about the effects of a new drug can lead to new information about its efficacy and safety.

Inquiry is crucial for the learning process as it encourages critical thinking, exploration, and the active pursuit of knowledge.

Inquiry provides a methodical way to gather relevant information and insights, enabling more informed and effective decisions.

Inquiry involves asking questions to obtain information, which then can be used to further inquiries, creating a cyclical process of learning.

No, inquiry can be both formal, as in academic research, or informal, such as everyday questions about one’s surroundings.

Information is valuable because it enables understanding, decision-making, and strategy development across various contexts.

Inquiry is driven by curiosity, the desire to know more about something, leading to questions and exploration.

Through inquiry-based learning strategies, encouraging students to ask questions, explore, and engage actively with the material.

Information becomes knowledge when it is understood, applied, or integrated into one's existing knowledge base.

Yes, information overload can complicate the inquiry process, making it difficult to identify relevant data or insights.