Table 1 Summary of issues and options for on-going linkage
From: Technical challenges of providing record linkage services for research
Operational feature | Options |
|---|---|
On-going linkage | - Link to most recent record in group vs. link to all records |
- Best-link matching vs. merging groups | |
Linkage automation | - Spectrum from fully automated to only the grouping process automated |
Links stored | - No history stored |
- Snapshots stored | |
- Full history stored within linkage map | |
Handling different linkage scenarios | - Only on-going linkage |
- Manual processes for project based linkage | |
- Access to on-going linkage system used for project based linkage | |
- Build system which can handle multiple scenarios | |
Amended and deleted records | - No handling of amended and deleted records |
- Amended records: Changing personal identifiers only vs deleting and re-linking | |
- Deleted records: Simple removal, or using pair information to reconstitute groups |