What defines active data collection in an organization?

Active data collection is characterized by the organization directly soliciting information from users. This involves strategies such as surveys, interviews, and feedback forms where individuals are prompted to share personal insights, opinions, or specific data points. Such methods are proactive and require user engagement in providing the requested information, which can lead to high-quality data tailored to the organization's needs.

In contrast, web tracking gathers data passively by monitoring user behavior online without direct user involvement. Allowing open access to data refers to making data widely available, but does not entail the direct solicitation of information from users. Automated data retrieval methods can collect data but are fundamentally different because they do not involve actively engaging users to gather information; instead, they rely on systems and applications extracting data automatically.

Thus, the defining characteristic of active data collection is the organization's initiative to directly ask for information, which enables it to gain insights through user participation.