9. Too much or too little detail
For information to be useful you need the right amount of detail.
There is a risk of having too much detail which makes the information overwhelming and difficult to extract the bits that you want to know about.
Or there might not be enough detail in which case you won't understand the full picture. This links closely to one of the factors we covered earlier, 'completeness'.
Think about this example:
| Too much detail | Not enough detail |
|---|---|
Ingredients Not only telling you that you need flour, but telling you all of the different brands of flour and how the choice of each one would affect the rising of your cake. |
Ingredients Telling you that you need flour but not the quantity you will need to weigh out. |
Method Telling you exactly how many times you need to beat the eggs and for exactly how many seconds you need to fold in the flour. |
Method Telling you to mix the ingredients together but not informing you of the correct order in which to combine them. |
Cooking Telling you the exact amount of minutes that the cake should be baked for every type of oven that is currently for sale. |
Cooking Telling you the temperature to cook the cake but not how long to leave it in the oven for. |
Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you
Click on this link: Level of Detail