D. Jan van der Laan and Bart F.M. Bakker dj.vanderlaan@cbs.nl

Indicator for the Representativeness of

Linked Sources

Representativeness

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Representativeness

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Representativeness

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representativeness sensitivity

Representativeness indicator

Representativeness indicator for linkage:

When all records in population have equal probability of being linked (e.g.

S 𝜌𝑋 = 0), the linked data set is representative of the population.

Based on: B. Schouten, F. Cobben and J. Bethlehem (2009). “Indicators for the

representativeness of survey response”, Survey Methodology, 2009, 101-113.

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𝓁 𝑋 =S(𝜌𝑋)

𝜌 𝑋,

Partial representativeness indicator

Measure

- contribution of single variable

- contribution of category of single variable

Two variants:

- unconditional partial indicator

- conditional partial indicator

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Example I: employment register

- Target population: employed foreign residents, with exception of

residents with a Belgian or German address.

- Add variables to ER by linking to Population Register

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Job 1

Address C

Address A

Job 2

Address A

Address D

Person

Address A

Address B

Person

Population Register Employment Register

Example I: linkage results

Data sources and deterministic linkage

Population register Employment register

Number of records 14,336,000 Number of records 12,859,000

Deterministically linked 12,302,000

Foreign address 361,000

To probabilistic linkage 196,000

Probabilistically linked 4,000

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Representativeness indicator:

Deterministic linkage: 𝓁 = 0.295

Probabilistic linkage: 𝓁 = 0.294

9 Representativeness indicator

Example II: Twin Register

National Twin Register: panel of twins

Health Insurance Database: health insurance claims of one

company (covers ca. 25% of Dutch population)

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Population NTR0 complete NTR

NTR1 used in linkage

NTR2 linked to HID

Records lost because no permission for linkage

Records lost because they could no be linked to the HID

The NTR is a panel in which twins voluntary participate

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NTR used in linkage (NTR1) compared to population

𝓁 = 0.61

Linkage result (NTR2) compared to population 𝓁 = 0.67

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NTR used in linkage (NTR1) compared to population Unconditional indicator

Conditional indicator

Conclusion

Representativeness indicator for linkage

- Under certain conditions upper bound on relative bias

- Results depend on set of covariates used

Applications

- Insight into which subpopulations underrepresented

- Direct further efforts in linkage

- Comparison of linkage algorithms

- Monitoring

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