IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jorssa/v181y2018i3p663-688.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

General and specific utility measures for synthetic data

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua Snoke
  • Gillian M. Raab
  • Beata Nowok
  • Chris Dibben
  • Aleksandra Slavkovic

Abstract

Data holders can produce synthetic versions of data sets when concerns about potential disclosure restrict the availability of the original records. The paper is concerned with methods to judge whether such synthetic data have a distribution that is comparable with that of the original data: what we term general utility. We consider how general utility compares with specific utility: the similarity of results of analyses from the synthetic data and the original data. We adapt a previous general measure of data utility, the propensity score mean‐squared error pMSE, to the specific case of synthetic data and derive its distribution for the case when the correct synthesis model is used to create the synthetic data. Our asymptotic results are confirmed by a simulation study. We also consider two specific utility measures, confidence interval overlap and standardized difference in summary statistics, which we compare with the general utility results. We present two contrasting examples of data syntheses: one illustrating synthetic data that is evaluated as being useful by both general and specific measures and the second where neither is the case. For the second case we show how the general utility measures can identify the deficiencies of the synthetic data and suggest how this can inform possible improvements to the synthesis method.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Snoke & Gillian M. Raab & Beata Nowok & Chris Dibben & Aleksandra Slavkovic, 2018. "General and specific utility measures for synthetic data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 181(3), pages 663-688, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:181:y:2018:i:3:p:663-688
    DOI: 10.1111/rssa.12358
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rssa.12358
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rssa.12358?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Drechsler, Jörg & Reiter, Jerome P., 2011. "An empirical evaluation of easily implemented, nonparametric methods for generating synthetic datasets," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(12), pages 3232-3243, December.
    2. Satkartar K. Kinney & Jerome P. Reiter & Arnold P. Reznek & Javier Miranda & Ron S. Jarmin & John M. Abowd, 2011. "Towards Unrestricted Public Use Business Microdata: The Synthetic Longitudinal Business Database," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 79(3), pages 362-384, December.
    3. Jerome P. Reiter, 2005. "Releasing multiply imputed, synthetic public use microdata: an illustration and empirical study," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(1), pages 185-205, January.
    4. Reiter, Jerome P. & Oganian, Anna & Karr, Alan F., 2009. "Verification servers: Enabling analysts to assess the quality of inferences from public use data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 1475-1482, February.
    5. Javier Miranda & Lars Vilhuber, 2016. "Using Partially Synthetic Microdata to Protect Sensitive Cells in Business Statistics," Working Papers 16-10, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    6. Nowok, Beata & Raab, Gillian M. & Dibben, Chris, 2016. "synthpop: Bespoke Creation of Synthetic Data in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 74(i11).
    7. Karr, A.F. & Kohnen, C.N. & Oganian, A. & Reiter, J.P. & Sanil, A.P., 2006. "A Framework for Evaluating the Utility of Data Altered to Protect Confidentiality," The American Statistician, American Statistical Association, vol. 60, pages 224-232, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Claire McKay Bowen & Fang Liu & Bingyue Su, 2021. "Differentially private data release via statistical election to partition sequentially," METRON, Springer;Sapienza Università di Roma, vol. 79(1), pages 1-31, April.
    2. Hang J. Kim & Jörg Drechsler & Katherine J. Thompson, 2021. "Synthetic microdata for establishment surveys under informative sampling," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(1), pages 255-281, January.
    3. Daiho Uhm & Sunghae Jun, 2022. "Zero-Inflated Patent Data Analysis Using Generating Synthetic Samples," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-11, July.
    4. James Jackson & Robin Mitra & Brian Francis & Iain Dove, 2022. "Using saturated count models for user‐friendly synthesis of large confidential administrative databases," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(4), pages 1613-1643, October.
    5. Erica Espinosa & Alvaro Figueira, 2023. "On the Quality of Synthetic Generated Tabular Data," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-18, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James Jackson & Robin Mitra & Brian Francis & Iain Dove, 2022. "Using saturated count models for user‐friendly synthesis of large confidential administrative databases," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(4), pages 1613-1643, October.
    2. Joseph W. Sakshaug & Trivellore E. Raghunathan, 2014. "Generating synthetic microdata to estimate small area statistics in the American Community Survey," Statistics in Transition new series, Główny Urząd Statystyczny (Polska), vol. 15(3), pages 341-368, June.
    3. Jörg Drechsler, 2015. "Multiple Imputation of Multilevel Missing Data—Rigor Versus Simplicity," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 40(1), pages 69-95, February.
    4. Hang J. Kim & Jerome P. Reiter & Alan F. Karr, 2018. "Simultaneous edit-imputation and disclosure limitation for business establishment data," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 63-82, January.
    5. Tatiana Komarova & Denis Nekipelov & Evgeny Yakovlev, 2018. "Identification, data combination, and the risk of disclosure," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 395-440, March.
    6. Martin Klein & Ricardo Moura & Bimal Sinha, 2021. "Multivariate Normal Inference based on Singly Imputed Synthetic Data under Plug-in Sampling," Sankhya B: The Indian Journal of Statistics, Springer;Indian Statistical Institute, vol. 83(1), pages 273-287, May.
    7. Daniel H. Weinberg & John M. Abowd & Robert F. Belli & Noel Cressie & David C. Folch & Scott H. Holan & Margaret C. Levenstein & Kristen M. Olson & Jerome P. Reiter & Matthew D. Shapiro & Jolene Smyth, 2017. "Effects of a Government-Academic Partnership: Has the NSF-Census Bureau Research Network Helped Improve the U.S. Statistical System?," Working Papers 17-59r, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    8. Felix Ritchie & Jim Smith, 2019. "Confidentiality and linked data," Papers 1907.06465, arXiv.org.
    9. Andrés F. Barrientos & Alexander Bolton & Tom Balmat & Jerome P. Reiter & John M. de Figueiredo & Ashwin Machanavajjhala & Yan Chen & Charles Kneifel & Mark DeLong, 2017. "A Framework for Sharing Confidential Research Data, Applied to Investigating Differential Pay by Race in the U. S. Government," NBER Working Papers 23534, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jahangir Alam M. & Dostie Benoit & Drechsler Jörg & Vilhuber Lars, 2020. "Applying data synthesis for longitudinal business data across three countries," Statistics in Transition New Series, Polish Statistical Association, vol. 21(4), pages 212-236, August.
    11. Nowok, Beata & Raab, Gillian M. & Dibben, Chris, 2016. "synthpop: Bespoke Creation of Synthetic Data in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 74(i11).
    12. Javier Miranda & Lars Vilhuber, 2016. "Using Partially Synthetic Microdata to Protect Sensitive Cells in Business Statistics," Working Papers 16-10, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Jerome P. Reiter, 2009. "Using Multiple Imputation to Integrate and Disseminate Confidential Microdata," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 77(2), pages 179-195, August.
    14. Ian Lundberg & Arvind Narayanan & Karen Levy & Matthew Salganik, 2018. "Privacy, ethics, and data access: A case study of the Fragile Families Challenge," Working Papers wp18-09-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    15. Loong Bronwyn & Rubin Donald B., 2017. "Multiply-Imputed Synthetic Data: Advice to the Imputer," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 33(4), pages 1005-1019, December.
    16. Chu, Amanda M.Y. & Ip, Chun Yin & Lam, Benson S.Y. & So, Mike K.P., 2022. "Vine copula statistical disclosure control for mixed-type data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    17. Stefan Wimmer & Robert Finger, 2023. "A note on synthetic data for replication purposes in agricultural economics," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 316-323, February.
    18. Reiter, Jerome P. & Oganian, Anna & Karr, Alan F., 2009. "Verification servers: Enabling analysts to assess the quality of inferences from public use data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 1475-1482, February.
    19. John M. Abowd & Ian M. Schmutte & Lars Vilhuber, 2018. "Disclosure Limitation and Confidentiality Protection in Linked Data," Working Papers 18-07, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    20. Satkartar K. Kinney & Jerome P. Reiter & Javier Miranda, 2014. "Improving The Synthetic Longitudinal Business Database," Working Papers 14-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:181:y:2018:i:3:p:663-688. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rssssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.