Tidy data
A table layout in which each row is one observation, each column is one variable, and each cell holds one value.
Tables built for people to read often break these rules with merged headers, totals rows, and packed cells. Tidy layout is what analysis tools expect.
Where it comes up
- Multiple values in one cellA single cell holds a list, or two different facts, joined by a comma, slash, or line break.
See also
- SchemaThe declared structure of a dataset: its columns, their names and types, and the rules they must satisfy.
- RecordOne row of a table: the set of values that together describe a single thing, such as one customer or one transaction.
- Data preparationEverything done to raw data to make it ready for a particular use: cleaning, reshaping, combining, and selecting.