Seventy three percent of the mechanisms investigated validate their data through a number of techniques - from corroboration of sources to on-the-ground investigations. Stronger mechanisms combine several validation techniques.
Recording systems should have strong protocols in place to verify the data that is being gathered. This challenge is especially hard for systems that rely on secondary data culled from primary sources, for example in the monitoring of media reports. Action On Armed Violence research has found that in Colombia most of the recording mechanisms validate their information, while only half of them do so in the Philippines and Thailand. The most common validation mechanisms identified by AOAV include independent on-the-ground investigation of the cases, the corroboration of sources and the comparison of datasets. Systems often use a combination of these validation techniques to strengthen accuracy.
COUNTING THE COST: CASUALTY RECORDING PRACTICES AND REALITIES, p. 14
