Whether you’re reading statistics in the news or you plan to work with data one day, understanding data quality can help you better judge everything from the integrity with which a study was conducted to the metrics you’ll use as you set up a large research project. People often make big decisions based on data, and knowing how valid, accurate and applicable those data are can influence those choices. When data aren’t high quality, they don’t provide the right insights — and the right insights are truly what you need in order to avoid poor decision-making and other unfavorable outcomes. When you learn about data quality, you become better at assessing those data and utilizing them, and the choices you make — or the software you’re developing for data analysis — will have more integrity as a result.
