Data Integrity Check – The Backbone of Meaningful Research

Published on July 1, 2017 by Santosh Kumar

Data is the foundation of all minor and major decisions and the actions based on them. It is the one indispensable fuel that runs all research

Let us take a step back and understand research and data in their simplest forms and how they are linked to each other. All products manufactured and services offered are targeted at potential customers across different geographical markets. Profitable sales will be possible only through the scientific selection of customers and markets. The scientific selection is what we call “research,” which is the backbone of every industry.

Data takes many forms and evolves before it becomes the perfect propeller of the research subject. Data collection, data integrity checks, tabulation, analysis, and insights are the five main pillars of research. Since a discussion on the entire research life cycle will be lengthy, in the interest of time, I will discuss data Integrity checks in relevance to the consulting and research industry.

Data integrity check is a prerequisite for deriving meaningful insights out of any research process. Poor data will always result in inaccurate research, leading to wrong actions.

Consulting and research firms partner with service providers for high-quality data collection. Advanced data integrity checks applied to ensure foolproof data quality include.

1. Fraud detection

2. Data penetration

3. Bot detection

4. Speeders and straight liners detection

5. Outliers

At Acuity Knowledge Partners, our clients leverage our advanced data integrity check widgets to ensure data quality in its most holistic and complete form. Results tell us that the above-mentioned checks effectively highlight all the anomalies in the collected data. We have embedded these data quality techniques in our data quality processes; our clients can vouch for the same.

Below, I provide an example (a case study) wherein we helped one of our biggest clients overcome data quality issues.

We supported our client, one of the leading employer branding firms, by leveraging our advanced data check process. We shared findings on collected data on a regular basis and used respondent-level data, charts to highlight questions, and sources where the percentage of bad records was high. Quick and real-time findings were shared with the client using Google Docs, online reportals, and online dashboards, which helped client make decisions around the method of and source for data collection. Further, regular checks at different stages helped intelligently collect meaningful data during the field period, while automated data-quality measures helped save sample costs and project management efforts significantly.

Another challenge in today’s services industry lies in the fact that clients demand high quality and quick turnaround time. At Acuity Knowledge Partners, we have automated and created tools to run collected data through our advanced data integrity checks in order to meet this service-level agreement. This enables us to partner with renowned panel providers that have huge data sets. Consequently, clients benefit, as they derive and publish accurate insights globally on time.

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