SPIDEQ – A Prototype for Decision Making with Quality Metadata

Data quality (DQ) metadata is the set of quality measurements associated with the data. Literature has demonstrated that the provision of DQ metadata can improve decision performance. However, it also showed that DQ metadata can overload decision-makers and consequently have a negative impact on decision performance. In this paper, we describe a prototype system, SPIDEQ, for visualizing DQ metadata. We believe that the visualization will shift the data overload from cognitive to perceptual and thus improve the decision capacity of the decision maker. Decision performance will improve even when DQ metadata is provided, a hypothesis that is not addressed in this paper. SPIDEQ is a prototype system that supports the provision of DQ metadata during the decision making process. The results of this study offer insights for the design of decision support systems and the provision of DQ metadata.