Releasing multiply imputed, synthetic public use microdata: an illustration and empirical study

Author: Jerome P. Reiter

Source: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), Volume 168, Number 1, January 2005 , pp. 185-205(21)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

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Abstract:

Summary.

The paper presents an illustration and empirical study of releasing multiply imputed, fully synthetic public use microdata. Simulations based on data from the US Current Population Survey are used to evaluate the potential validity of inferences based on fully synthetic data for a variety of descriptive and analytic estimands, to assess the degree of protection of confidentiality that is afforded by fully synthetic data and to illustrate the specification of synthetic data imputation models. Benefits and limitations of releasing fully synthetic data sets are discussed.

Keywords: Confidentiality; Disclosure; Microdata; Multiple imputation; Synthetic data

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2004.00343.x

Affiliations: 1: Duke University, Durham, USA

Publication date: 2005-01-01