Objectivity

Characteristic Name:	Objectivity
Dimension:	Reliability and Credibility
Description:	Data are unbiased and impartial
Granularity:	Information object
Implementation Type:	Process-based approach
Characteristic Type:	Usage

Verification Metric:

The number of tasks failed or under performed due to biased and partial data

The number of complaints received due to biased or partial data

GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons

The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation

Guidelines:	Scenario:
Identify all the factors that make a particular data/information biased for the intended use and take preventive actions to eliminate them	(1) A written questionnaire is better than a face to face interviews in getting sensitive personal data
Design and execute preventive actions for all possible information distortions (malfunctioning or personal biases) which may cause by information /data collectors	Perform a duel coder approach to code qualitative data.
Design and execute preventive actions for all possible information distortions (malfunctioning or personal biases) which may cause by information /data transmitters	(1) After a survey is performed, each participant is contacted individually by a party (other than the person who conducted the survey) and randomly verify if the participants real responses have been marked properly.

Validation Metric:

How mature is the process to prevent biased and partial data

These are examples of how the characteristic might occur in a database.

Example:	Source:
Consider an inventory database that contains part numbers, warehouse locations, quantity on hand, and other information. However, it does not contain source information (where the parts came from). If a part is supplied by multiple suppliers, once the parts are received and put on the shelf there is no indication of which supplier the parts came from. The information in the database is always accurate and current. For normal inventory transactions and deci- sion making, the database is certainly of high quality. If a supplier reports that one of their shipments contained defective parts, this database is of no help in identifying whether they have any of those parts or not. The database is of poor quality because it does not contain a relevant element of information. Without that information, the database is poor data quality for the intended use.	J. E. Olson, “Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 9 January 2003.

Example:

Source:

Consider an inventory database that contains part numbers, warehouse locations, quantity on hand, and other information. However, it does not contain source information (where the parts came from). If a part is supplied by multiple suppliers, once the parts are received and put on the shelf there is no indication of which supplier the parts came from. The information in the database is always accurate and current. For normal inventory transactions and deci- sion making, the database is certainly of high quality. If a supplier reports that one of their shipments contained defective parts, this database is of no help in identifying whether they have any of those parts or not. The database is of poor quality because it does not contain a relevant element of information. Without that information, the database is poor data quality for the intended use.

J. E. Olson, “Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 9 January 2003.

The Definitions are examples of the characteristic that appear in the sources provided.

Definition:	Source:
The degree to which Information is presented without bias, enabling the Knowledge Worker to understand the meaning and significance without misinterpretation.	ENGLISH, L. P. 2009. Information quality applied: Best practices for improving business information, processes and systems, Wiley Publishing.
Is the information free of distortion, bias, or error?	EPPLER, M. J. 2006. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes, Springer.
1) Data are unbiased and impartial 2) Objectivity is the extent to which data are unbiased (unprejudiced) and impartial.	WANG, R. Y. & STRONG, D. M. 1996. Beyond accuracy: What data quality means to data consumers. Journal of management information systems, 5-33.

Definition:

Source:

The degree to which Information is presented without bias, enabling the Knowledge Worker to understand the meaning and significance without misinterpretation.

ENGLISH, L. P. 2009. Information quality applied: Best practices for improving business information, processes and systems, Wiley Publishing.

Is the information free of distortion, bias, or error?

EPPLER, M. J. 2006. Managing information quality: increasing the value of information in knowledge-intensive products and processes, Springer.

1) Data are unbiased and impartial

2) Objectivity is the extent to which data are unbiased (unprejudiced) and impartial.

WANG, R. Y. & STRONG, D. M. 1996. Beyond accuracy: What data quality means to data consumers. Journal of management information systems, 5-33.

Semantic consistency

Characteristic Name:	Semantic consistency
Dimension:	Consistency
Description:	Data is semantically consistent
Granularity:	Element
Implementation Type:	Rule-based approach
Characteristic Type:	Declarative

Verification Metric:

The number of semantically inconsistent data reported per thousand records

GuidelinesExamplesDefinitons

The implementation guidelines are guidelines to follow in regard to the characteristic. The scenarios are examples of the implementation

Guidelines:	Scenario:
Ensure that semantics of data is consistent within/across applications	(1) All orders placed by the customers are called “Sales order” in all tables/databases. (2) Anti-example: Payment type ( Check) Payment Details (Card type, Card number)
Maintenance of data dictionary or standard vocabularies of data semantics	(1) Data dictionary provides technical data as well as semantics of data

Validation Metric:

How mature is the creation and implementation of the DQ rules to maintain semantic consistency

These are examples of how the characteristic might occur in a database.

Example:	Source:
School admin: a student’s date of birth has the same value and format in the school register as that stored within the Student database.	N. Askham, et al., “The Six Primary Dimensions for Data Quality Assessment: Defining Data Quality Dimensions”, DAMA UK Working Group, 2013.
A company has a color ﬁeld that only records red, blue, and yellow. A new requirement makes them decide to break each of these colors down to multiple shadings and thus institute a scheme of recording up to 30 different colors, all of which are variations of red, blue, and yellow. None of the old records are updated to the new scheme, as only new records use it. This data- base will have inconsistency of representation of color that crosses a point in time.	J. E. Olson, “Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 9 January 2003.

Example:

Source:

School admin: a student’s date of birth has the same value and format in the school register as that stored within the Student database.

N. Askham, et al., “The Six Primary Dimensions for Data Quality Assessment: Defining Data Quality Dimensions”, DAMA UK Working Group, 2013.

A company has a color ﬁeld that only records red, blue, and yellow. A new requirement makes them decide to break each of these colors down to multiple shadings and thus institute a scheme of recording up to 30 different colors, all of which are variations of red, blue, and yellow. None of the old records are updated to the new scheme, as only new records use it. This data- base will have inconsistency of representation of color that crosses a point in time.

J. E. Olson, “Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension”, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 9 January 2003.

The Definitions are examples of the characteristic that appear in the sources provided.

Definition:	Source:
Data about an object or event in one data store is semantically Equivalent to data about the same object or event in another data store.	ENGLISH, L. P. 2009. Information quality applied: Best practices for improving business information, processes and systems, Wiley Publishing.
Data is consistent if it doesn’t convey heterogeneity, neither in contents nor in form – anti examples: Order.Payment. Type = ‘Check’; Order. Payment. CreditCard_Nr = 4252… (inconsistency in contents); Order.requested_by: ‘European Central Bank’;Order.delivered_to: ‘ECB’ (inconsistency in form,because in the first case the customer is identified by the full name, while in the second case the customer’s acronym is used).	KIMBALL, R. & CASERTA, J. 2004. The data warehouse ETL toolkit: practical techniques for extracting. Cleaning, Conforming, and Delivering, Digitized Format, originally published.
The extent of consistency in using the same values (vocabulary control) and elements to convey the same concepts and meanings in an information object. This also includes the extent of semantic consistency among the same or different components of the object.	STVILIA, B., GASSER, L., TWIDALE, M. B. & SMITH, L. C. 2007. A framework for information quality assessment. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58, 1720-1733.