collective nouns are like "team" or "group", they're happy to be "a team" or "one group"
data doesn't work like that, people say "a data point", or "one piece/item of data". (because datum is almost a dead word)
it's more accurate to say data is a mass noun, a. k.a. an uncountable noun, like air, sand, rice.
is that to avoid using liquid vinegar?