A column labeled “duration” may contain seconds, minutes, or a formatted piece of text. The meaning can seem obvious to its creator and become uncertain when the file is shared or reopened later.
Document the unit and keep the representation consistent. Distinguish a missing value from a zero, and state whether a timestamp carries a time zone. These small decisions matter when another tool reads the table.
Export a sample and inspect it outside the original application. Check that the values still have the intended meaning and that a reader can find their definitions. Portable data needs portable context as much as a widely readable file format.
Imagine a practical setting.
Consider two duration columns, one in seconds and one in minutes. Their similar labels do not make the stored numbers ready to combine.
Before the next experiment.
Treat an unexpected value as the start of an investigation. Its source and context matter before you decide whether to remove it or build a story around it.
- Document units and representations.
- Define missing values separately from zero.
- Inspect an export outside the original tool.
Follow a related question
Compare one object under two light sources.
A color depends on the lightIdentify the claims that materially matter.
A plausible answer can still be wrongKeep learning
Related background to continue exploring this subject.
W3C: a primer for tabular data RFC Editor: the CSV format
