Publication explores equity in data collection

A recent publication from a School of Dentistry researcher explores the collection of oral health data in an effort to enhance equity in research.

Tamanna Tiwari, MPH, MDS, BDS, Chair of the Department of Primary Dental Care, is the senior author on “Perspectives and experiences with equitable data collection in oral health: a qualitative investigation,” which was published in BMC Oral Health in July 2025.

“Data equity is a topic that’s very near and dear to my heart,” Tiwari explained. Much of her recent work focuses on big data, as well as data collection in communities. 

“I shepherded this project to understand what data equity really means to our research participants,” she explained. “Are we collecting data in an equitable manner? Who are we missing when we collect data?”

Through focus groups and in-depth interviews, the researchers explored study participants’ experiences with equitable data collection. The study identified four themes: “challenges with access to oral health care,” “accurate identification and representation of the individuals being served,” “accurate identification is more than individual descriptors but rather how many descriptors intersect” and “suggestions for improving equitable data collection.”

This work is essential, Tiwari believes, in order to comprehend the full picture when it comes to oral health care in communities.

“As researchers, it is our responsibility to think about equity, but we never ask our participants what they think,” she reflected. “A lot of communities think we just go collect data, but we don’t provide them with information on our findings or how it could be useful to them. This paper presents a framework and some suggested changes to how we, as researchers, should think about data equity, our responsibility toward it and how we can ensure we’re including our research participants as true partners in research.”

Moving forward, based on the results of this study, Tiwari hopes researchers can begin having conversations about study design, engagement of participants and the use of methods that contextualize data.

“Right now, the goal is to educate researchers to think about data equity, to develop tools and measure how they’re collecting it,” Tiwari explained. So far, that has included presentations at the American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research and the International Association for Dental Research. “Then, we’ll look to implement those tools during data collection.”