12. Data Linkage & Integration

Question 1

what are the ethical needs of data linkage

Answer 1

• need multi-site ethics applications detailing the requirements
• data may be shared to other parties
• data leaks
• data may need to be decrypted for linkage

Question 2

what are the technical needs of data linkage

Answer 2

data consistency & accessibility etc.

Question 3

what is the linkage process

Answer 3

splitting –> linkage –> integration –> research

1. separate dataset into ID & content
   both files are stored & handled separately
2. multiple matching methods applied to identify/distinguish
   give records an arbitrary but unique ID number
3. use encrypted version of person number to derive project specific person number
   join PPN to content so one individual has multiple content matches
4. now researchers can combine records for an individual. they won’t see ID info, only PPN

Question 4

what is the importance of hc metadata

Answer 4

helps to find, authenticate, understand, trust, use & manage info

Question 5

illustrate the choice maker example

Answer 5

choice maker has 3 options: match, different & hold

match = exact match between both records, phonetic match, match if a few letters are transposed, are values nicknames for each other

differ = are values completely different

hold = is one/both of the values missing/invalid/placeholder