IPUMS-International: A Restricted Access Web-Site Providing Anonymized, Integrated Census Microdata for Social Science and Policy Research * * * Robert McCaa, Steven Ruggles, Matt Sobek (University of Minnesota) and Albert Esteve (Centre d

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IPUMS-International A Restricted Access
Web-Site Providing Anonymized, Integrated
Census Microdata for Social Science and Policy
Research Robert McCaa, Steven Ruggles, Matt
Sobek (University of Minnesota) and Albert
Esteve (Centre dEstudis Demografics)
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Overview access, privacy and confidentiality for
integrated census microdata of 40 countries

1. Goals and accomplishments
2. Confidentiality and privacy protections legal,
   administrative, technical
3. Data cleaning, constructing, and integration
4. Access custom-tailored extracts (not whole
   datasets) users and uses
5. Summary new directions, 6 strengths and an
   aspiration

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1. Goals and accomplishments
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Four Goals

• 1. Inventory the worlds census microdata
• 2. Preserve endangered microdataa. contract
  preservation with repositoriesb. deposit copies
  in at least two archives National Statistical
  Organization and ... WHO
  
• 3. Integrate datasets of authorized countries
  using UNSD and other standards
• 4. Disseminate extracts of database to approved
  researchers without charge (copy to each NSI)

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Minnesota Population CenterUniversity of
MinnesotaPrincipal investigatorshistorians
Steven Ruggles Robert McCaawww.ipums.org/interna
tional
1998 First agreement signed 1999 Funding
authorized 2002 First data release, 7 countries
China, Colombia, France, Kenya, Mexico, USA,
Vietnam 2003 Regional projects Latin America,
Europe
Accomplishments
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Preserve data
documentation
UN Demographic Center for Latin America (CELADE,
Santiago, Chile)3000 microdata tapes preserved
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Integration projects 40 Partners 1 (Table 1
August 16, 2003 )
World Region Official Statistical Authority
Africa Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar
Americas Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, USA
Asia China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam
Europe Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom
Middle East Israel, Palestinian Authority
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Data Access first release May 2002
7 countries, 23 samples60 million person
records USA 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990,
2000 China 1982 Colombia 1964, 1973,
1985, 1993 France 1962, 1968, 1975,
1982, 1990 Kenya 1989,
1999 Mexico 1960, 1970, 1990,
2000 Vietnam 1989, 1999
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2. Confidentiality and privacy protections
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Confidentiality and privacy protections changing
perceptions

• Growing recognition that anonymized census
  microdata samples do not violate national
  legislation on statistical confidentiality and
  privacy
• International Monetary Funds General Data
  Dissemination System 52 countries with uniform
  standards
• All enforce strict standards of statistical
  confidentiality
• Prohibit disclosure of information which may
  identify individuals or entities
• In 2000, 37of 52 countries disseminate
  anonymized census microdata samples

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Confidentiality protections, IPUMSI legal,
administrative, and technical

• Dissemination agreement between University of
  Minnesota and each National Statistical Institute
• Uniform 10 point protocol ownership, use,
  authorization, restrictions, confidentiality,
  security, publication, violations, sharing, and
  arbitration
• Conditional use license between the University of
  Minnesota and each researcher
• Permission to use restricted access microdata, 3
  criteria research need, research competence,
  and agree to conditions of use
• Technical data protection measures
• Specific to each country /

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Confidentiality protections, IPUMSI technical

• Technical data protection measures
• Adopt sample size according to national norms
• Suppress detailed geography
• Top and bottom code continuous variables
• Suppress dates (birth, migration, marriage,
  etc.)
• Swap (recode) place of enumeration for a small
  fraction of households
• Randomly order households within administrative
  units
• No semi-automatic procedures (e.g., µ-Argus)

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Only serious researchers need apply (Table 2)
Institutional affiliations (Europe Canada)
Cardiff University Demographic Studies Center - University A. of Barcelona Department of Statistics, University of Florence INED Paris Institut d etudes politiques de Paris Institut francais de recherche en Afrique (IFRA) Ministry of Economic Development and Trade Novosibirsk State Technical University University College London Department of Demography, University of Montreal Queen's University Simon Fraser University Statistics Canada -Library and information centre University of Toronto
Institutional affiliations (Africa, Asia, Latin America)
African Population and Health Research Center Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology National University of Singapore The University of Nairobi The World Bank Universidad Externado de Colombia Universidad Pedagogica Experimental Libertador World Agro-Forestry Centre World Health Organization
Official Over-sight Boards cited by approved users
Commission Nationale Information et Liberte Comite National d'Ethique Institutional Review Board--research on human subjects) IRD scientific commission (Conseil Scientifique) ISA and its research committees RC28 and RC33 National Committees for Research Ethics--Norway USA Federal Code title 13/title 26 /title 5 Vice-decanat a la recherche, l'ethique
Funding Agencies
Canadian Foundation for Innovation Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Economic and Social Research Council, UK National Science Foundation National Institutes of Health Norwegian University Development Aid Funding Rockefeller Foundation Wellcome Trust
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3. Data enhancements integration
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Data Enhancements

• Data quality and enhancements added value
• Clean data to eliminate duplicate records
• Conduct internal consistency checks
• Impute missing, inconsistent values
• Constructed variables to facilitate analysis
• Pointer variables for Mothers, Fathers, Spouses
• Family and household variables

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Integration (not standardization)

• Adopt uniform coding schemes, nomenclatures and
  classifications
• United Nations Statistics Division (Priniciples
  Recs)
• UNESCO (ISCED)
• International Labor Office (ISCO-88)
• Composite coding scheme 2 simple, but seemingly
  contradictory rules (Table 3, next slide)
• Retain original detail
• Harmonize each digit
• /

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Composite coding scheme Employment
Status
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Integration Work Plan

• Assemble microdata and documentation (MPC, NSI)
• Develop samples to minimize confidentiality risk
  and maximize robustness (MPC or NSI partner)
• Design national integration plan (NSI,
  consultants)census-by-censusconcept-by-conceptc
  ode-by-code
• Write integrated documentation (MPC, partners)
• Program integration (MPC)

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StandardUN/Eurostat Principles Recs...
Census documentation compiled for Colombian
microdata
Photos from Colombia integration project,
February-March, 20004 experts from DANE (census
office)7 academics (3 universities)
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4. Access
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Data Access web-based extraction system

• Password protected to make and retrieve
  extracts
• Researcher selects
• countries,
• censuses,
• Cases/sub-populations,
• variables, and
• Sample densities
• Extract engine queues request, generates extract
• Researcher retrieves extract via web
• NO CDs, original codes, or complete datasets

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5. Regional initiatives summary
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IPUMS-Latin America, 2003-2007 16 countries,
500m. people

• Scope Latin American census microdata,
  1960-present
• Work Plan
• ?2001-2 Sign licensing agreements with official
  agencies
• ? 2002-3 Obtain funding from U.S. NIH
• 2004 Develop/translate microdata metadata
  
• Country expert teams design national
  integrations
• 2005 MPC/expert teams design regional
  integration
• 2006 MPC integrates microdata and metadata
• 2007 MPC disseminates to bona fide researchers
  who show need and agree to conditions of use.

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ICM-Europe 14 national teams
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Summary, 6 strengths and an aspiration

• Uniform legal authorization
• Access restricted to scientists with need
• Experienced integration teams
• Proven web-based distribution system
• High user satisfaction
• Sustainability MPC, ICPSR, WHO
• Aspiration 90 countries, 90 worlds population
  by 2010

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additional information athttp//www.ipums.org/i
nternational Contact Robert
McCaarmccaa_at_umn.edu