Data plays a critical role in shaping decisions, policies, and strategies in today’s fast-paced public health world. However, not all data is created equal. Ensuring it is accurate, unbiased, and easily accessible is essential for making informed, fair, and effective decisions that truly benefit all communities.
What is Data Equity and Data Integrity?
Data equity, according to Community Commons, is a set of principles that identify and address biases, inequalities, and exclusions in all aspects of data – from collection and analysis to interpretation and accessibility.
Unlike data equality, which aims to provide the same resources to everyone, data equity recognizes that individuals have unique needs and circumstances that require tailored approaches to achieve fairness, inclusivity, and transparency.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to Angie Grover, Metopio’s Chief Operating Officer, to discuss how they make data more accessible and impactful for users across various sectors. Illinois-based Metopio is at the forefront of democratizing data access by making it affordable and easy for organizations to leverage in making cognizant decisions. Intuitively designed, Metopio’s platform empowers its users – from data experts to community advocates — to effectively curate critical, verified data in a user-friendly format.
Data integrity is the accuracy, completeness, and quality of data across all formats and throughout its life cycle, according to Harvard Business School Online.
As the importance of public health data grows, maintaining its integrity cannot be overstated as it profoundly impacts outcomes. I also talked with Raina Sharma, MPH, a seasoned Atrómitos data strategist, about why data integrity is essential and why sustaining it can be ethically challenging. Maintaining data integrity is crucial in public health, where data informs decisions that affect entire populations. Flawed data can lead to misguided policies, resource misallocation, and harmful interventions.
Ethical Challenges in Maintaining Data Integrity
While data integrity is crucial, sustaining consistent recording across various sources is often a challenge. Public health professionals often rely on data collected by other people, such as frontline workers, who may not gather data with the same level of rigor every time. This lack of uniformity complicates efforts to ensure data accuracy and completeness, potentially creating gaps in analysis that can affect decision making.
When working with flawed data, public health professionals face an ethical dilemma of correcting it without compromising its integrity. Angie and Raina highlighted the importance of data governance—establishing clear procedures and protocols for data collection, storage, and analysis to minimize the risk of errors. Even with the best governance protocols, human mistakes are inevitable, and it is crucial to address them transparently.
For example, if there are inconsistent entries for the same patient’s race across different office visits, it is important to document and inform stakeholders of these discrepancies so they can be addressed. Whether it’s through statistical adjustments or other corrective measures, the key is transparent communication about these interventions and an acknowledgment of the data’s limitations in any analysis or reporting.
For data to be truly equitable, it also must be high quality and comply with necessary guidelines.
Prioritizing Data Integrity and Equity
For public health professionals, prioritizing data integrity and equity means being vigilant at every stage of the data lifecycle—from collection to distribution to analysis—and following procedures that can catch and correct errors early. They must remain committed to this goal, recognizing that the quality and equity of their data directly impact the health and well-being of the communities they serve.
Closing Thoughts
Data equity and integrity are vital to bridge gaps in access and ensure all communities benefit from data-driven decisions. By prioritizing these principles, organizations can address disparities, improve health outcomes, and drive positive community changes. As we move forward, embracing data equity and integrity will be necessary in building a more inclusive and just society.
Article Notes
Season 3 of The Atrómitos Way Podcast kicked off with Angie Grover, Chief Operating Officer of Metopio. Metopio makes it easy for clients to analyze and share the most impactful data to inspire action. Believing that communities connect through places and people, Metopio effectively uses data to reveal valuable, interconnected factors that influence health outcomes in different locations. The company and its data platform serve thousands of public health, healthcare, and community-based organizations.
For more insights on the importance of data integrity in public health, listen to the latest episode of The Atrómitos Way Podcast featuring Senior Advisor Raina Sharma, MPH, who uses technology and data analytics to create meaningful change. She has expertise in public health, analytics, surveying, database management, and health IT, particularly in health information exchanges (HIE).
