This document presents a framework for evaluating the information quality (InfoQ) of empirical studies. It discusses eight dimensions for assessing InfoQ: 1) data resolution, 2) data structure, 3) data integration, 4) temporal relevance, 5) chronology of data and goal, 6) generalizability, 7) construct operationalization, and 8) communication. The framework was used to evaluate research proposals from students prospectively and evaluate completed studies retrospectively. Students found the InfoQ approach helpful for systematically evaluating studies and sorting out relevant information.

1. A Framework for Evaluating Empirical Studies
InfoQ
SRITNE KNOWLEDGE SEMINAR, ISB, Feb 2016
Galit Shmueli 徐茉莉
Analytics
Humanity
Responsibility

2. eBay dataset with millions of auctions
• All camera auctions in 2008
• All camera auctions in 2016
• Auctions for all items in 1/2016
• Sample from all items in 2016
How much will you pay?
Or maybe Craigslist data?
2

3. “statisticians working in a research environment… may
well have to explain that the data are inadequate to
answer a particular question.”
Statistics: A Very Short Introduction (Hand 2008)
Pre-data, post-data, post-analysis
What is the potential of a dataset to
generate knowledge?
3

4. Analysis goal
g X
Available data
f
Data analysis
method
Utility measure
U
4

5. Analysis goal
g
Domain Goal
What, why, when, where, how
→ Analysis Goal
Explain, predict, describe
Enumerative, analytic
Exploratory, confirmatory
Quality of Goal Specification
• “error of the third kind” - giving the right answer to the wrong
question– Kimball
• “Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which
is often vague, than an exact answer to the wrong question,
which can always be made precise” - Tukey 5

6. X
Available data
Data Source
• Primary, secondary
• Observational, experiment
• Single, multiple sources
• Collection instrument, protocol
Data Type
• Continuous, categorical, mix
• Structured, un-, semi-structured
• Cross-sectional, time series, panel,
network, geographical
Data Quality U(X|g)
• “Zeroth Problem - How do the data relate to the problem, and
what other data might be relevant?” - Mallows
• MIS/Database - usefulness of queried data to person querying it.
• Quality of Statistical Data (IMF, OECD) - usefulness of summary
statistics for a particular goal (7 dimensions)
Data Size and
Dimension
• # observations
• # variables
6

7. f
Data analysis
method
Analysis Quality
• “poor models and poor analysis techniques, or even analyzing the
data in a totally incorrect way.” - Godfrey
• Analyst expertise
• Software availability
• The focus of statistics/econometrics/DM education
Statistical models and methods
• Parametric, semi-, non-parametric
• Classic, Bayesian
Econometric models
Data mining algorithms
Graphical methods
Operations research methods
7

8. Utility measure
U
Quality of Utility Measure
• Adequate metric from analysis standpoint (R2, holdout data)
• Adequate metric from domain standpoint
Domain goal → Analysis goal
• Predictive accuracy, lift
• Goodness-of-fit
• Statistical power, statistical significance
• Strength-of-fit
• Expected costs, gains
• Bias reduction, bias-variance tradeoff
Analysis utility → Domain utility
8

9. InfoQ(f,X,g) = U( f(X|g) )
Depends on quality of g, X, f, U and relationship between them
The potential of a particular dataset
to achieve a particular goal using a
given empirical analysis method
9

10. Statistical Approaches for Increasing InfoQ
Study Design (Pre-Data)
• DOE
• Clinical trials
• Survey sampling
• Computer experiments
Post-Data-Collection
• Data cleaning and
preprocessing
• Re-weighting, bias
adjustment
• Meta analysis
Randomization, Stratification,
Blinding, Placebo, Blocking,
Replication, Sampling frame,
Link data collection protocol
with appropriate design
Recovering “real data” vs.
“cleaning for the goal”
Handling missing values,
outlier detection, re-
weighting, combining results 10

11. Assessing InfoQ
“Quality of Statistical Data”
(Eurostat, OECD, NCSES,…)
• Relevance
• Accuracy
• Timeliness and punctuality
• Accessibility
• Interpretability
• Coherence
• Credibility
InfoQ dimensions
1. Data resolution
2. Data structure
3. Data integration
4. Temporal relevance
5. Chronology of data and goal
6. Generalizability
7. Construct operationalization
8. Communication
3 V’s of Big Data
• Volume
• Variety
• Velocity
Marketing Research
• Recency
• Accuracy
• Availability
• Relevance 11

12. #1 Data Resolution
Measurement scale and aggregation level
12
Dutch Flower Auctions
Van Heck
Ketter
Gupta
Koppius
Lu
Kambil
How many flowers?
How many auctions?
Bidder level?

13. #2 Data Structure
Data Types
• Time series, cross-sectional, panel
• Geographic, spatial, network
• Text, audio, video, semantic
• Structured, semi-, non-structured
• Discrete, continuous
Data Characteristics
Corrupted and missing values due to
study design or data collection
mechanism
13
Social TV: Real-Time Media
Response to TV Advertising
Hill, Nalavade & Benton, KDD 2012
Prediction in Economic Networks
Dhar, Geva, Oestreicher-Singer &
Sundararajan, ISR 2012

14. Consumer Surplus in Online Auctions
Bapna, Jank & Shmueli, ISR 2008
#3 Data Integration
Utility of Linkage
Dangers: Privacy
Increase or decrease InfoQ?
14
Music Blogging, Online Sampling, and the
Long Tail, Dewan & Ramprasad, ISR 2013
Song radio play data from Nielsen SoundScan +
music blog sampling data from The Hype Machine

15. #4 Temporal Relevance
Analysis Timeliness
(solving the right
problem too late)
Data
Collection
Data
Analysis
Study
Deployment
t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6
Collection Timeliness
(relevance to g)
g: Prospective vs. retrospective; longitudinal vs. snapshot
Nature of X, complexity of f
forecast
15

16. #5 Chronology of Data & Goal
g1: Explain price
g2: Forecast price
Retrospective/prospective
Ex-post availability
Endogeneity
16

17. #6 Generalizability
Statistical
generalizability
Scientific
generalizability
Definition of g
Choice of X, f, U 17
The Hidden Cost of Accommodating Crowdfunder
Privacy Preferences: A Randomized Field Experiment
Burtch, Ghose, Wattal
“We found that our
treatment had a large, highly
negative effect on hiding
behavior…
(β = -0.279, p < 0.001)”
“It is possible that our results would
not extend to a [offline] purchase
context, where issues of social
capital, reputation, etc. might be less
pronounced”

18. 18

19. 19

20. #7a Construct Operationalization
χ construct
X = θ(χ) operationalization (measurable)
• Causal explanation vs.
prediction, description
• Theory vs. data
• Data: Questionnaire,
physical measurement
20
Online
Seller
Reputation
Total #ratings
{#pos, #neg} ratings
# recent negative ratings
Text content of feedback
The Digitization of Word-of-Mouth:
Promise and Challenges of Online Reputation Systems
Dellarocas, Management Science

21. #7b Action Operationalization
21
Derive concrete actions from the information
provided by a study
The Management Insights editor
will write a Management Insights
paragraph for every paper that is
accepted for publication.
One Way Mirrors in Online Dating:
A Randomized Experiment
Bapna, Ramprasad, Shmueli & Umyarov
Online Reputation Systems: How to
Design One That Does What You Need
Dellarocas
Social TV: Real-Time Media
Response to TV Advertising
Hill, Nalavade & Benton

22. #8 Communication
Visual, written, verbal presentations & reports
Knowledge must reach the right person at the right time
• Mentoring
• Manuscript reviewing
• Data made available to
others
• EDA and shared
visualization dashboards
• Seminars + conferences!
22

23. 23
“In the last three years, there has
been a concerted effort by those in
Washington to reduce government
spending and reign in the national
debt.
One reason for the budget cuts?
Research by two Harvard
economists, Ken Rogoff and Carmen
Reinhart. The pair found that when a
country owes more than 90 percent
of their GDP,it slides into
recession.”
… Fixing this Excel error transforms
high-debt countries from recession
to growth
www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/excel-mistake-heard-round-world

24. a brief conversation about marriage equality with
a canvasser who revealed that he or she was gay
had a big, lasting effect on the voters’ views, as
measured by separate online surveys
administered before and after the conversation.
24
May 2015: Independent researchers fail to
replicate; noted statistical irregularities in
LaCour’s data (baseline outcome data statistically
indistinguishable from a national survey ; over-time
changes indistinguishable from perfect normally
distributed noise)
High or
Low InfoQ?

25. Assessing InfoQ in Practice
Rating-based assessment
1-5 scale on each dimension:
InfoQ Score = [d1(Y1) d2(Y2) … d8(Y8)]1/8
Experience from two Research Methods courses
Shmueli and Kenett (2013), “An Information Quality (InfoQ) Framework for Ex-Ante and Ex-Post
Evaluation of Empirical Studies”, Proceedings of IDAM 2013, Springer-Verlag. 25

26. Assessing Research Proposals:
Ex-Ante (Prospective) InfoQ
• 2009 Research methods workshop for PhD students
• Help students develop and present research proposal
• 50 students from OB, OR, marketing, economics

27. • Each student evaluates his/her proposal on the 8
InfoQ dimensions. Will proposal likely lead to the
intended goal?
• Students’ grades derived from an InfoQ score of
their proposal submission (presentation + written)
InfoQ Integration (Prospective)

28. Goal:
Make students’ research journey
more efficient and more effective

29. Assessing Research Proposals:
Ex-Post (Retrospective) InfoQ
Professional masters degree program that emphasizes
statistical practice, methods, data analysis and practical
workplace skills. The MSP is for students who are
interested in professional careers in business, industry,
government, or scientific research.
Masters Program in
Statistical Practice

30. Assessing Research Proposals:
Ex-Post (Retrospective) InfoQ
In 2012: 16 students
Students instructed to: (60-90 min)
1. Read short description of InfoQ and its dimensions
2. Read reports on five studies
3. Describe goal, data, analysis, utility for each study
4. Evaluate the 8 dimensions for each study
Predicting days with
unhealthy air quality in
Washington DC
Predicting Changes in
Quarterly Corporate
Earnings Using
Economic Indicators
Quality-of-care factors
in U.S. nursing homes
Predicting
ZILLOW.com’s
Zestimate accuracy
goo.gl/erNPF
Predicting First Day
Returns for
Japanese IPOs

31. Feedback:
InfoQ approach helped “sort out all of the
information”
Several reported that they will adopt this
evaluation approach for future studies

32. More with InfoQ:
Guidelines for Journal Article
Writing and Reviewing
32

33. 33

34. 34

35. InfoQ: Strengths and Challenges
InfoQ approach streamlines questioning of data value
• “Why should we invest in data?” – management
• Compare value of potential datasets, analyses
• Prioritize/rank projects
• Strengthen functional – analytical relationship
• Evaluation study: InfoQ useful for developing an analysis plan
(prospective) and evaluating an empirical study (retrospective)
To Do:
• Improve InfoQ assessment (heterogeneity across different raters)
• Alternative InfoQ assessment approaches (pilot study, EDA, other)
• Further dimensions (data privacy, ethics/moral, novelty)
• Effect of technological advances on InfoQ
35

36. 36
With
discussion
Forthcoming (2016)