Abstract
In many developing countries, efforts to make more effective use of quantitative data in policy formulation, planning, and management of the education system is threatened by poor data quality. This study investigated the extent to which national education data in Nepal were subject to reporting error, the extent to which Ministry level decision makers accurately estimated the error in the education data available to them, and the level in the reporting process at which that error was introduced. Results suggest that decision makers' skepticism about data quality results in non-use; however, evidence suggests that the data may be more accurate than decision makers believe them to be. Results serve as a caution against too quickly generalizing assumptions about data quality across countries.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 307-318 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Evaluation and Program Planning |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1991 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:*The larger study of data use in developing countries was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and conducted under the auspices of the IEES project. For further information, see Windham (1985); Chapman and Messec (1985); Messec (1985); Gaal and Burchfield (1988); Dhungana and Butterworth (1988); Chapman (1989); and New ERA (1989).
