data element
data element
2. In electronic recordkeeping, a combination of characters or bytes referring to one separate item of information, such as name, address, or age.
2. In electronic recordkeeping, a combination of characters or bytes referring to one separate item of information, such as name, address, or age.
data element
data element
[′dad·ə ‚el·ə·mənt]data element
The fundamental data structure in a data processing system. Any unit of data defined for processing is a data element; for example, ACCOUNT NUMBER, NAME, ADDRESS and CITY. A data element is defined by size (in characters) and type (alphanumeric, numeric only, true/false, date, etc.). A specific set of values or range of values may also be part of the definition.Technically, a data element is a logical definition of data, whereas a field is the physical unit of storage in a record. For example, the data element ACCOUNT NUMBER, which exists only once, is stored in the ACCOUNT NUMBER field in each customer record and in the ACCOUNT NUMBER field in each order record. See field.
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| The Basic Unit of Storage |
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| Technically, data elements describe the logical unit of data, fields are the actual storage units, and data items are the individual instances of the data elements as in this example. In practice, all three terms may be used interchangeably. However, technical documentation on database management should employ the terms properly. |
data element
data element
EBMA structured item characterised by stem and response options, with a history of usage that can be standardised for research purposes across clinical studies conducted by and for NIH.
Informatics
(1) For XML, an item of data provided in a mark-up mode to allow machine processing. The mark up or tagging facilitates document indexing, search and retrieval, and provides standard conventions for insertion of codes.
(2) The smallest unit of information in a transaction.