All Data are Wrong, but Some are Useful? Advocating the Need for Data Auditing

2017/04/13 by Sitsofe Tsagbey, Miguel de Carvalho, Garritt L. Page · 1 citation
Mathematics · Computer Science · #Benford’s Law and Fraud Detection #Imbalanced Data Classification Techniques

paper · doi:10.1080/00031305.2017.1311282

Abstract

In a recent article from the Annals of Applied Statistics, Cox discussed the main phases of applied statistical research ranging from clarifying study objectives to final data analysis and interpreting results. As an incidental remark to these main phases, we advocate that beyond cleaning and preprocessing the data, it is a good practice to audit the data to determine if they can be trusted at all. A case study based on Ghanaian Official Fishery Statistics is used to illustrate this need, with Benford's law being the tool used to carrying out the data audit. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Citations

• Breaking the (Benford) Law
• Note on the Frequency of Use of the Different Digits in Natural Numbers

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• Technological improvements or climate change? Bayesian modeling of time-varying conformance to Benford's Law. [europepmc]

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