This scoping review documents best international practice in linking administrative data to longitudinal studies of children. The report was commissioned by the statistics team within the Research and Evaluation Unit of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), and was supported by the CSO. Funding was secured through the IGEES annual research fund.
The report finds that data linkage has the potential to generate economic, methodological and informational benefits, and that there is a strong and growing policy mandate in Ireland for data linkage. A number of challenges arising in respect of data linkage are highlighted throughout the report, along with guidance for overcoming these challenges.
The findings in the report will help inform the Growing up in Ireland Pathfinder Project, which will link GUI data to existing administrative data to produce aggregated analyses and outputs. These outputs will help to inform the development of effective public policies and services for children and their families.
A copy of the review can be found here