Which of the following are raw data in the field scenario described: a photograph of plant condition and a hand-written description on a data form?

• A. Only the photograph
• B. Only the hand-written description
• C. Both the photograph and the hand-written description
• D. Neither is raw data

Answer: (C)

Raw data are the original, unprocessed observations collected in the field. A photograph captures exactly what was observed at that moment, and the hand-written description on a data form records contextual details and observations in the observer’s own words. Because nothing has been analyzed or transformed yet, both the image and the notes qualify as raw data. If you later extract measurements or summarize them, those derived values become processed data, but the originals remain raw data.