The Role of Data Quality in Social Science Research. 

Decisions based on data can be affected by the quality of data that
underlies the analysis that leads to the decisions. Most users look for
data of the highest quality that they can afford for the purpose at hand.
But what do we mean by data quality?  Are there absolute measures?  Who
'grades' the quality?  What are the attributes of quality data? How is
this information portrayed to users? What is the role of metadata?  This
session will be in the form of a panel discussion and will attempt to shed
light on this important issue through a series of presentations by a data
producer, a data professional and a researcher. Each will address this
issue from their perspective.

Cathryn Dippo from the Bureau of Labor Statistics will present the
elements of data quality from a data producer's point of view using the
Current Population Survey as an example.  Data producers normally try to
address the quality of data from the point of view of relevance accuracy,
timeliness, accessibility interpretability and coherence.  Ms Dippo will
explain how the BLS attempts to meet these objectives.

Josefina J. Card and Michael Carley will present a paper in which they
will discuss three areas of major concern for data librarians and data
users:  data quality, format, and dissemination. They will explore how one
large data collection, the Social Science Electronic  Data Library
(SSEDL), compiled over the last 17 years by Sociometrics Corporation, has
addressed each of these issues and the conflicts and  problems that arose
during that process. 

Dr. Paul Bernard, Professor of Sociology, Universitie de Montreal, will
speak from the perspective of a researcher  that has used  various public
use micro data files from Canadian and US agencies. He contends that the
quality of data are often discovered through their use and that there is a
need for a feedback loop between researchers and producers to properly
capture this type of information. He will also discuss the challenges  of
comparisons over time when standards and measurements change, the need for
interaction between qualitative and quantitative research and  the issue
of describing quality in measurements of difficult phenomena such as 
relationships.