From a seed to a forest: Microdata access at Statistics Canada

Issue title: Official Statistics and Microdata – Access and Confidentiality

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Goldmann, Gustave

Affiliations: Manager, Microdata Access Division, Statistics Canada

Note: [] Address for correspondence: Dr. Heather Dryburgh, Microdata Access Division, Statistics Canada, Canada. Tel.: +1 613 951 0501; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Informed decision making on social issues requires current, comprehensive and very well-targeted research. Societies face two primary challenges in order to respond to this need for timely information – access to relevant data and a corps of qualified researchers to conduct the analyses. As part of a response to the challenges that confront Canadian policy research, Statistics Canada established the Microdata Access Division. The mandate of the Division is to manage and provide access services to data that are generally classified as restricted and to do so while respecting the legal and ethical imperatives that govern such access. This article describes Statistics Canada's approach to providing access while managing disclosure risk.

Keywords: Data Liberation Initiative, micro-data, microdata, RDC, Research Data Center, Real-Time Remote Access, Statistics Canada

DOI: 10.3233/SJI-2009-0703

Journal: Statistical Journal of the IAOS, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 75-87, 2009/2010