Data Item Quality for Biobanks

Biobanks not only collect, store and provide biological material but also associated data. Therefore, it is necessary to establish data quality management in biobanks. In this article by BBMRI.at partner Alpe Adria University, the authors describe the concept of quality for biobank data.

For this they analysed which properties of biobanks are most important for an adequate data quality management system. They categorized the quality of biobank data into data item quality and metadata quality. They further defined data item quality characteristics, which are e.g. completeness, accuracy, reliability, consistency, timeliness, precision, and provenance. These definitions of data item quality characteristics are necessary for data quality representation and management. The definitions are also important, when data items derived from different sources have to be combined and integrated, which is often the case with larger medical studies.

 

Shekhovtsov, V.; Eder, J.: Data Item Quality for Biobanks. Transactions on Large-Scale Data-and Knowledge-Centered Systems L, pp. 77-115. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2021.