“Improving Data Quality: Actors, Incentives, capabilities.”

validity: complicated way of saying, we get results of what we intended to measure as social scientists, and not the embarrassing latter of getting unintended results. Interestingly this article is trying to say (to me anyways) that the balance of qualitative and quantitative is marginally smaller than previously thought. In fact if we do empirical research, it will help redefine and better our qualitative concepts of social science then can be re measured to make our quantitative and qualitative research symbiotic.

“Preliminary empirical work  may help in the initial formulation of concepts.”

One problem however, that the article discusses is the margin of error that empirical measurements can cause.

Consequences in data can cause errors in the dependent variables in the measurements. Sometimes, these errors can cause problems in cross country polling. In democracy we can have too many dependent variables that can measure democracy, cross-states, cross- countries to see the relationships between democracies. Arguably, it appears this article says that the errors in research can cause dire biases and drastic misrepresentations of data in democracy. then there is the question if the data is good quality, apart from the errors the dependent variables have to properly measure the qualitative aspects of empirical data.Meaning, if we have errors in the huge data sets, then the research quality diminishes. What causes errors, to me missing information in global statistics about countries GDP and etc. and at the smaller scale, missing data of citizens at a country’s census data.

The article didnt exactly make sense to me, however I usually freeze up when we start comparing empirical research. I think they are saying in a fancy way that comparing democracy from country to country whether its comparing elections, economies, national incomes creates a sphere where data error can occur easily- and it can help if we redefine, and go in depth of conceptual experiments/theories about democracies….perhaps?