资料 (zīliào) is a broad noun for 'materials, data, information' used in study, research, or work — like a document, dataset, or reference. It overlaps with 材料 (cáiliào), but 材料 leans toward raw physical materials or someone's raw talent, while 资料 is more about collected information or resources. 数据 (shùjù) is narrower, meaning 'data' as numbers or statistics.