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Quest Training

Register-Based Official Statistics & Record Linkage Training Course

Shows statistics teams how to turn ministry administrative records into official statistics with record linkage, quality frameworks and disclosure control.

DA · Data Analytics & Business IntelligenceAll Levels#3032ClassroomEnglish , Arabic
Duration
5 Days
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Free substitution at any time · 30+ days' notice: full refund minus 10%. Cancellation policy

Sectors:Data, Analytics & Digital TransformationCategories:Data Analytics & Business Intelligence

Course Overview

The Register-Based Official Statistics & Record Linkage Training Course equips statisticians and planning specialists with the methods to turn administrative records held by ministries and agencies into reliable official statistics. It goes beyond survey design and report writing to cover what register-based production demands: access to source data, record linkage, quality assessment, disclosure control, and combined census methods. Civil registration, residency, social insurance, tax, education, and labor records already describe most of the population and economy, yet they were built for administration, not measurement. The course starts by inventorying and evaluating these sources, mapping administrative concepts to statistical definitions and classifications, and placing register work within the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM). It then addresses the institutional side: legal mandates, data-sharing agreements with ministries, metadata and change notification, and secure transfer with pseudonymization. Participants practice deterministic and probabilistic record linkage, including the Fellegi-Sunter approach, Arabic name standardization, clerical review, and the measurement of false and missed matches. They build and maintain statistical registers for population, businesses, and dwellings, apply residence and signs-of-life rules to control over-coverage, and assess quality with national quality assurance frameworks and a total error view of register-based outputs. The final days cover register-based and combined census models, coverage surveys and dual-system estimation, and statistical disclosure control for tables and microdata, from cell suppression and perturbation to controlled research access. Through hands-on exercises with realistic sample files, participants leave ready to plan and defend a staged move from survey-led to register-based statistics.

Learning Objectives

  • Evaluate administrative sources for statistical potential, coverage, units, and timeliness.
  • Map administrative concepts and codes to statistical definitions and classifications.
  • Position register-based production within the GSBPM and the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
  • Design data-sharing agreements that specify variables, frequency, metadata, security, and change notification.
  • Apply pseudonymization and separate identifiers from content when processing records.
  • Link records deterministically and probabilistically, setting thresholds and organizing clerical review.
  • Measure false and missed matches and assess how linkage error biases outputs.
  • Build and maintain population, business, and dwelling registers with clear residence rules.
  • Assess input, process, and output quality using national quality assurance frameworks.
  • Compare full register and combined census models and their coverage requirements.
  • Apply statistical disclosure control to tables and microdata while preserving analytical value.
  • Develop a staged roadmap from survey-led to register-based official statistics.

Who Should Attend

This training course is designed for statisticians, methodologists, register and census managers, and data processing specialists in national statistics offices. It also suits staff of ministry statistics, planning, and information units who supply administrative records or use them to produce official figures. It is relevant to national statistics offices, ministries of interior, labor, health, education, and finance, social insurance and tax authorities, and civil registration agencies. Data governance, legal, and information security officers who negotiate or oversee data-sharing agreements will also benefit. Those who benefit most are practitioners preparing to link ministry records, build statistical registers, or plan a register-based or combined census.

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
  • Assess whether an administrative source can support a specific official statistic.
  • Translate administrative definitions, units, and codes into statistical classifications.
  • Draft a data-sharing agreement with a ministry, including metadata and change notification.
  • Process records under pseudonymization and strict separation of identifiers.
  • Link files deterministically and probabilistically and justify the match thresholds.
  • Estimate false and missed match rates and explain their effect on published figures.
  • Build a statistical register and control over-coverage with signs-of-life rules.
  • Produce a quality report for a register-based output using a national framework.
  • Select a register-based or combined census model and its coverage measurement approach.
  • Apply dual-system estimation to compare register counts with a coverage survey.
  • Protect tables and microdata with suitable disclosure control methods and access tiers.
  • Present a staged roadmap for moving official statistics from surveys to registers.

Course Outline

Day 1

Administrative Sources & Statistical Concepts

  • Administrative versus survey data: purpose, units and coverage
  • Key sources: civil registration, residency, social insurance, tax and labor records
  • The UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and professional independence
  • Base registers for population, businesses, dwellings and addresses
  • Mapping administrative concepts and codes to statistical classifications
  • Inventory and scoring of sources for statistical usability
  • Placing register work within the statistical business process model
  • Practical application: Inventory ministry sources and score their statistical usability
Day 2

Data-Sharing Agreements & Institutional Arrangements

  • Legal basis: statistics and data protection laws and mandated access
  • Data-sharing agreements and memoranda of understanding with ministries
  • Specifying variables, frequency, formats and metadata
  • Change notification when source systems are reformed
  • Roles of data owners, data stewards and the statistical office
  • Secure transfer, pseudonymization and separation of identifiers from content
  • Building trust through feedback and value returned to source agencies
  • Practical application: Draft key clauses of a data-sharing agreement with a social insurance agency
Day 3

Record Linkage & Statistical Registers

  • Unique identifiers, linkage keys and working without them
  • Deterministic and rule-based matching
  • Probabilistic linkage: the Fellegi-Sunter approach, match weights and thresholds
  • Standardizing and transliterating Arabic names, dates and addresses
  • Clerical review, false matches, missed matches and linkage bias
  • Over-coverage and under-coverage: residence rules and signs-of-life criteria
  • Updating registers for births, deaths, migration and business demography
  • Practical application: Link two sample files and estimate false and missed match rates
Day 4

Quality Frameworks & Combined Census Methods

  • Quality dimensions: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, coherence and accessibility
  • National quality assurance frameworks and the UN quality assurance manual
  • Input, process and output quality indicators for administrative sources
  • A total error framework for register-based statistics
  • Census models: full register, combined register and survey, and rolling designs
  • Coverage surveys and dual-system estimation
  • Integrating survey and register data, including small area estimation
  • Practical application: Assess a register-based population count against a coverage survey
Day 5

Statistical Disclosure Control & Transition Planning

  • Disclosure risks in register-based tables and microdata
  • Table protection: cell suppression, rounding and cell key perturbation
  • Microdata protection: recoding, top-coding, record swapping and k-anonymity
  • Differential privacy concepts and their trade-off with accuracy
  • Access tiers: public use files and secure research environments
  • Metadata, methodology notes and quality reports for users
  • Roadmap for moving from survey-led to register-based production
  • Practical application: Protect a census table and present a transition roadmap

Upcoming Dates

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London · 25 – 29 Jan 2027 · Classroom

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2 – 6 Nov 2026€5,400—
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