The effect of data cleaning on record linkage quality.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Within the field of record linkage, numerous data cleaning and standardisation techniques are employed to ensure the highest quality of links. While these facilities are common in record linkage software packages and are regularly deployed across record linkage units, little work has been published demonstrating the impact of data cleaning on linkage quality.

Methods

A range of cleaning techniques was applied to both a synthetically generated dataset and a large administrative dataset previously linked to a high standard. The effect of these changes on linkage quality was investigated using pairwise F-measure to determine quality.

Results

Data cleaning made little difference to the overall linkage quality, with heavy cleaning leading to a decrease in qualit

SUBMITTER: Randall SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3688507 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature