Table 2.

Summary of best practices.

Theme	Point in the Data Pathway	Actions
Distal factors	Upstream of data collection and analysis	Mandating data collection
		Legal safeguards to ensure nondiscrimination
		Legislation incentivising data collection
		Prioritisation in policy
Wider actions to enable improvements in data collection	Preparing for data collection	Achieving senior-level buy-in in organisations involved in data collection
		Engagement activities with citizens, patients, and communities
		Staff training programmes on purpose and mechanisms for data collection
		Developing guidance on how data can be used
		Demonstration of the value of data collection and analysis for organisations
Data collection instruments, systems, and standardisation	Data collection	Using multidisciplinary groups to inform data collection instruments, systems, and standardisation
		Creating standardised definitions and coding practices across organisations
		Improving granularity of data fields
		Developing standardised processes for collecting and recording data
		Developing audit processes to monitor data quality aspects
		Creating IT systems to facilitate data collection
		Periodic revision of definitions and categories
Methodological approaches to improve data quality and accuracy	Data analysis	Linking with other data sources
		Use of proxy variables
		Imputation