<p>I’m not certain what CB thinks of “data.” They do tend to be fairly conservative about language, however, and the more conservative usage would treat “data” exclusively as the plural. “Data” in the singular would be the Star Trek character. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the use of “data” as a singular collective noun, to refer to a mass of information, is accepted by several reasonably authoritative sources; but there are quite a few publishers who still won’t permit this use–to say nothing of the science profs for whom I used to write papers. Does anyone have an official CB source that shows how CB construes “data?”</p>