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A Guide to Benchmarking COVID ‐19 Performance Data
Author(s) -
George Bert,
Verschuere Bram,
Wayenberg Ellen,
Zaki Bishoy Louis
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.13255
Subject(s) - benchmarking , covid-19 , strengths and weaknesses , benchmark (surveying) , equivalence (formal languages) , corporate governance , perspective (graphical) , computer science , government (linguistics) , data science , public relations , business , political science , psychology , marketing , artificial intelligence , infectious disease (medical specialty) , medicine , geography , philosophy , linguistics , pathology , virology , outbreak , social psychology , geodesy , disease , finance
If the COVID‐19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is that policy makers, experts, and public managers need to be capable of interpreting comparative data on their government's performance in a meaningful way. Simultaneously, they are confronted with different data sources (and measurements) on COVID‐19 without necessarily having the tools to assess these sources strategically. Because of the speed with which decisions are required and the different data sources, it can be challenging for any policy maker, expert, or public manager to make sense of how COVID‐19 has an impact, especially from a comparative perspective. Starting from the question “How can we benchmark COVID‐19 performance data across countries?,” this article presents important indicators, measurements, and their strengths and weaknesses, and concludes with practical recommendations. These include a focus on measurement equivalence, systems thinking, spatial and temporal thinking, multilevel governance, and multimethod designs.