Record linkage involves attempting match records from two different data files that do not share a unique and reliable key field. It can be a tedious and challenging task when working with multiple administrative databases where one wants to match subjects using names, addresses and other identifiers that may have spelling and formatting variations. Formal record linkage methods often employ a combination of approximate string comparators and probabilistic matching algorithms to identify the best matches and assess their reliability. Some stand-alone software is available for this task. This presentation will introduce -reclink-, a rudimentary probabilistic record matching program for Stata. -reclink- employs a modified bigram string comparator and allows user-specified match and non-match weights. The algorithm also provides for blocking (both "or" and "and") to help improve speed for this otherwise slow procedure.
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Publisher Info
Software component provided by Boston College Department of Economics in its series Statistical Software Components with number
S456876.
Size: Programming language: Stata Requires: Stata version 8.2 Date of creation: 04 Oct 2007 Date of revision:
25 Feb 2008 Handle: RePEc:boc:bocode:s456876
Note: This module may be installed from within Stata by typing "ssc install reclink". Windows users should not attempt to download these files with a web browser. Contact details of provider: Postal: Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill MA 02467 USA Phone: 617-552-3670 Fax: +1-617-552-2308 Email: Web page: http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC/ More information through EDIRC