The quality and importance of SA-SAMS data as unit-level data: a technical overview

Data quality – its accuracy, completeness, reliability, relevance and timeliness – is crucial for proper analysis, administration and policymaking. Data quality was therefore of great concern in RESEP’s report, Educational issues and the impact of Covid-19: What education data reveal. This study was undertaken with funding from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, using different data sources that were all largely derived from the SA-SAMS school administrative data system. This document discusses some of these data issues, with the central question being, how good is the quality of the data generated by SA-SAMS? The focus of this assessment is not on the results but rather on the methodology that could be applied to improve the quality of the data in SA-SAMS. Here the level of data quality is measured against three dimensions: completeness, accuracy and consistency.