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If information is power, you might assume that getting information more often should be powerful, too. Not so fast, say two business school professors. ''In many situations, real-time data comes in on a continuous basis, and then you, as a decision maker, have to decide which data is information and which is pure noise,'' say the authors. ''That''s not an easy task, which is what this study shows.'' They conducted studies of undergraduate students to investigate how the frequency of information reports affects decision making. The researchers discovered that receiving information more frequently led to worse decisions, particularly when there was more ''noise'' - that is, random fluctuations - in the data. Techniques such as statistical process control charts serve a similar purpose by filtering data and identifying exceptions, so that managers aren''t focusing solely on the latest data. ''It''s not like we''re saying you should scrap your real-time system,'' Lurie says. ''We''re saying use caution before rolling these things out and simply giving managers real-time data.'' So the power of real-time information lies in its context, not its frequency.