Beschreibung

"The last decade saw the advent of the digitalization of all aspects of our society. Data are collected and stored when we interact with our friends by using social media, when we search the Internet, if we need to see the doctor. Information is collected whenever we use our smartphones, realtime traffic conditions are provided based on data collected from navigation devices, insurance companies offer reduced car insurance rates if you are willing to install a small device that monitors your driving behaviour. Buzz words such as 'big data' or the 'data tsunami' reflect the notion that the amount of data that are collected on all aspects of our lives has increased tremendously in recent years, offering unprecedented opportunities to study the complexity of our society. Linking health records with administrative data to understand better the effectiveness of various treatments and the relationships between socio-economic status and health status or using new data sources for evidence-based policy are some examples of how the digital information could be used for the betterment of society. These developments also put great pressure on government agencies to provide broader access to their data.<br> The call for papers for the part-themed issue of this journal emphasized the need for methodological rigour and real world applications. Over 30 papers were submitted but only four papers ultimately made it into the issue. These papers represent major contributions to advanced methodological research in the area of data confidentiality and statistical disclosure control." (Text excerpt, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))