What aspect of data management is often difficult due to varying quality?

Data curation involves the processes of collecting, organizing, and managing data to ensure its quality and usability over time. It is particularly challenging when there are discrepancies in data quality, as poor-quality data can lead to inadequate or misleading conclusions. The need to assess, clean, and enhance data in order to create a reliable dataset for analysis makes curation a complex and time-consuming task.

With varying quality of data, curators must invest significant effort in verifying the integrity of the information, which can involve reconciling inconsistencies, removing duplicates, and standardizing data formats. This added layer of complexity is what makes data curation a distinctly difficult aspect of data management compared to other areas, such as storage, analysis, or transfer, where quality issues may not play as direct a role in the process.