Political Analysis Advance Access originally published online on April 2, 2007
Political Analysis 2007 15(4):365-386; doi:10.1093/pan/mpm007
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Improving Data Quality: Actors, Incentives, and Capabilities
Department of Government, Harvard University, Davis Center, #S301, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Centre for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, 3600 Market Street, Suite 560, Philadelphia, PA 19104
e-mail: dkapur{at}sas.upenn.edu
e-mail: herrera{at}fas.harvard.edu (corresponding author)
This paper examines the construction and use of data sets in political science. We focus on three interrelated questions: How might we assess data quality? What factors shape data quality? and How can these factors be addressed to improve data quality? We first outline some problems with existing data set quality, including issues of validity, coverage, and accuracy, and we discuss some ways of identifying problems as well as some consequences of data quality problems. The core of the paper addresses the second question by analyzing the incentives and capabilities facing four key actors in a data supply chain: respondents, data collection agencies (including state bureaucracies and private organizations), international organizations, and finally, academic scholars. We conclude by making some suggestions for improving the use and construction of data sets.
Authors' note: For generous comments at many stages in the paper, the authors would like to thank Dawn Brancati, Bear Braumoeller, Kanchan Chandra, Jorge Dominguez, Errol D'Souza, Richard Grossman, Ana Grzymala-Busse, Andrew Kydd, David Laitin, Daniel Posner, Jasjeet Sekhon, Hillel Soifer, Jessica Wallack, and Steven Wilkinson and the Comparative Politics Research Workshop at Harvard University, and the anonymous reviewers from Political Analysis. The authors take full responsibility for any errors. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meetings, Boston, MA, August 2002.