Abstract:

Information Quality is a term that has been largely misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused, in all aspects, of everyday life, research and the business domain. Information quality has been a synonym of data quality. However, the two of them are completely different. While data quality can only be assessed in an objective manner information quality is quite subjective in its assessment. This paper intends to clarify the difference between the two terms and provide a thorough understanding of how information quality can be assessed in the business context.

We have conducted a literature review to identify documents that not only clarify this difference between data and information quality but also provide a way of assessing information quality in different business contexts. Finally, a summary of the different assessment methods is provided enabling the researcher to distinguish the differences between those methods. In this summary, we compare and contrast the different methods in a tabular format while at the same time we provide a narrative of this comparison. This comparison is based on criteria that are relevant to the assessment of information quality irrespective of the business context. The outcome of this research is important, as it will enable the researchers and practitioners to gain an understanding of how to assess information quality.

Throughout the literature review, the number of papers focusing on assessment methods of information quality seems to decrease as time progresses. This is a phenomenon that needs to be further investigated since, while data seems to explode, information is getting more difficult to obtain.

Keywords:

Information quality, assessment, business.