Service overview
IGREC builds data quality assurance into research design, tools, training, fieldwork, and data management. We prevent errors where possible and investigate them when they occur.
Direct answer
Data quality assurance services protect the accuracy, completeness, consistency, and credibility of research data. IGREC uses programmed checks, field monitoring, audits, back-checks, and documented corrections. Clients receive evidence they can defend.
Organisations needing defensible data quality controls before, during, and after collection.
Tailored support
A service designed around the decision and field reality.
The scope connects research questions, methods, participants, operations, quality controls and final use.
Decision valueWhat this service helps you decide
Data quality problems rarely come from one source. Weak definitions, poor programming, respondent selection, interviewer behaviour, device settings, and cleaning decisions can all introduce error.
IGREC uses a risk-based quality plan. First, we identify critical variables and failure points. Then, we assign preventive checks, detection rules, review thresholds, and corrective actions.
Expected outcomesWhat IGREC delivers
- Fewer missing, inconsistent, duplicated, or implausible records.
- Early identification of interviewer and team-level patterns.
- Transparent decisions about corrections and exclusions.
- Traceable data from collection through final delivery.
- Greater confidence among clients, funders, and researchers.
Best suited toWho this service supports
This service supports donors, universities, NGOs, government research units, evaluation teams, survey organisations, public health studies, and large field-data programmes.
How IGREC delivers the service
A controlled process from mobilisation to handover.
01Identify critical risks.
We rank variables, processes, and behaviours that could threaten the main findings.
02Prevent avoidable errors.
We improve definitions, tools, training, workflows, permissions, and field manuals.
03Monitor incoming data.
Automated and analyst checks review missingness, duration, logic, duplication, location, and patterns.
04Investigate anomalies.
Supervisors examine source records, contact teams, run back-checks, and document findings.
05Approve the final dataset.
We reconcile issues, lock versions, preserve logs, and provide a quality statement.
Typical deliverables
A documented handover your team can use.
- Data quality assurance plan
- Critical-variable and threshold matrix
- Automated check scripts or dashboards
- Back-check and audit tools
- Issue resolution log
- Final data quality report
Why clients choose IGREC
Rigour connected to local implementation knowledge.
IGREC treats quality as a system rather than a final cleaning task. The research design, questionnaire, team, devices, dashboards, and management decisions all contribute to the final dataset.
Additionally, we preserve an audit trail. Clients can see what was flagged, how it was investigated, and why the final decision was made.
Relevant IGREC experience
Evidence from related assignments.
IGREC has provided quality assurance for refugee welfare and integration research. Our portfolio also includes large household, enterprise, geospatial, longitudinal, and experimental datasets where systematic quality controls are essential.
Related project
Improving Refugee Welfare and Integration
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How poverty is measured impacts who gets classified as impoverished
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Improvement of Land Governance in Uganda
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Firm Dynamics and Worker Resilience to the COVID-19 Shock in Uganda
View projectFrequently asked questions
Practical answers before scoping begins.
Is data cleaning the same as data quality assurance?
No. Cleaning addresses data after collection. Quality assurance also prevents and detects problems during design and fieldwork.
Can quality checks identify fabricated interviews?
They can identify risk signals. Evidence may combine duration, location, audio audits, patterns, back-checks, and supervisor investigation.
What happens when a record fails a check?
A flag triggers review. IGREC does not automatically delete records without evidence and documented rules.
Request this service
Build quality controls before fieldwork begins
Share your protocol, questionnaire, data flow, and critical indicators. IGREC will design a practical quality assurance plan around the study's main risks.
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