Defending Dignity A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Chapter 5: The role of data in monitoring economic, social and cultural rights KEY QUESTIONS • What is quantitative data? • How can using quantitative data assist in monitoring? • What are the challenges and limitations of working with data? INTRODUCTION Part I looked at how to organize research questions using the OPERA framework in order to capture relevant ESCR norms when analysing socio-economic policies. It also introduced indicators as a way of framing questions in a precise, measurable way. If indicators ask the question, then data provides the information we need to answer that question. This means that once indicators and benchmarks have been set, relevant sources of information need to be identified. The chapters in Part II focus on gathering this information and, in particular, on gathering quantitative data. Effective human rights advocacy must rely on more than slogans, unsupported assertions and pleas. Strong, evidence-based and well-communicated findings are essential for generating positive changes in laws, policies and practices. Quantitative data, or statistics, plays a particularly important role in building the evidence. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the difference between data and evidence. Data is discrete pieces of information, such as age, ethnicity and income level. Evidence is when data is used to establish facts, test hypotheses or support arguments. The key to effective monitoring is to find the relevant data, analyse it and turn it into evidence. The chapters in Part II discuss how to do this. Chapter 6 explains where to look for secondary data; Chapter 7 provides an overview of primary data collection techniques; and Chapter 8 introduces basic data analysis skills. This introductory chapter provides an overview of quantitative data, as well as some of the pros and cons of using it in monitoring activities. 5.1. WHAT IS DATA? Data is a value assigned to a thing. For example, what data can we gather about the balls shown in the photograph here? What can we see? What else could we find out? First of all, we know that they are used for playing football. Football is a type of sport, which helps put the balls into a particular category. But there is more to them. They have different colours: red, green, yellow, black and white and so on. The photograph also shows their condition: new or used. In addition, we could find out their size, how many there are and how much they cost. The major categories of data are qualitative and quantitative: • Qualitative data describes something; for example, colours, texture and feel of an object, a description of experiences, or an interview. These are non-numerical characteristics. • Quantitative data refers to a number; for example, the size a population, the price of an item or a score on a test. 54