API page: http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/includes%21common.inc/function/drupal_a...
Looking at http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/developer!topics!forms_api_reference.ht..., the example states "You add a javascript setting by using the 'data' key (as php keys can't be arrays)" and shows:
$settings = array('id' => 'mymodule-element-1');
$form['#attached']['js'][] = array(
'data' => array('mymodule' => $settings),
'type' => 'setting',
);
So the $data parameter is an integer in the form example. If calling this function directly, then $data is NULL.