The inadvertently revealing statistic: A systemic gap in statistical training? (2024)
Journal Article
Derrick, B., Green, E., Ritchie, F., Smith, J., & White, P. (2024). The inadvertently revealing statistic: A systemic gap in statistical training?. Significance, 21(1), 24-27. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrssig/qmae009

While concerns around data privacy are well-known, there's a lack of awareness and training when it comes to the confidentiality risk of published statistics, argue Ben Derrick, Elizabeth Green, Felix Ritchie, Jim Smith, Paul White

The present and future of the Five Safes framework (2023)
Journal Article
Green, E., & Ritchie, F. (2023). The present and future of the Five Safes framework. Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.29012/jpc.831

The Five Safes has become the default framework for confidential data governance across multiple sectors and countries. Since its inception in 2003, the approach has influenced data management in many ways, particularly in the public sector. As it ha... Read More about The present and future of the Five Safes framework.

SACRO guide to statistical output checking (2023)
Other
Ritchie, F., Green, E., Smith, J., Tilbrook, A., & White, P. (2023). SACRO guide to statistical output checking. [web]

This guide for output SDC is the first report from the SACRO project. It covers, theory of output SDC, including the new statbarns model, practicalities, operational considerations, and FAQs for output checking teams.

Research data governance in low-and middle-income countries (2023)
Report
Ferrer Breda, P., Green, E., Kendal, C., & Ritchie, F. (2023). Research data governance in low-and middle-income countries. Bristol: UWE

Research and policy development on the governance of confidential research data is dominated by the work of academics and government agencies based in high-income countries (HICs). This leaves three quarters of the world’s population faced with a cor... Read More about Research data governance in low-and middle-income countries.

Disclosure control issues in complex medical data (2023)
Presentation / Conference
Green, E., Ritchie, F., Smith, J., Western, D., & White, P. (2023, September). Disclosure control issues in complex medical data. Paper presented at UNECE/Eurostat Expert Group on Statisticial Data Confidentiality, Wiesbaden

The covid19 pandemic assisted the acceleration of routine access to medical records for research. In the UK platforms including OpenSafely and NHSDigital, alongside emerging hospital trust based Trusted Research Environments (TREs), demonstrate the u... Read More about Disclosure control issues in complex medical data.

SACRO: Semi-Automated Checking Of Research Outputs (2023)
Presentation / Conference
Smith, J., Preen, R., Albashir, M., Ritchie, F., Green, E., Davy, S., …Bacon, S. (2023, September). SACRO: Semi-Automated Checking Of Research Outputs. Paper presented at UNECE Expert meeting on Statistical Data Confidentiality, Wiesbaden, Germany

Output checking can require significant resources, acting as a barrier to scaling up the research use of confidential data. We report on a project, SACRO, that is developing a general-purpose, semi-automatic output checking systems that works across... Read More about SACRO: Semi-Automated Checking Of Research Outputs.

Research data governance in low- and middle-income countries (2023)
Presentation / Conference
Ferrer Breda, P., Green, E., & Ritchie, F. (2023, September). Research data governance in low- and middle-income countries. Paper presented at UNECE/Eurostat Expert Group on Statisticial Data Confidentiality, Wiesbaden

Research and policy development on the governance of confidential research data is dominated by the work of academics and government agencies based in high-income countries (HICs). This leaves three quarters of the world’s population faced with a cor... Read More about Research data governance in low- and middle-income countries.

Towards a comprehensive theory and practice of output SDC (2023)
Presentation / Conference
Derrick, B., Green, E., Ritchie, F., & White, P. (2023, September). Towards a comprehensive theory and practice of output SDC. Paper presented at UNECE/Eurostat Expert Group on Statisticial Data Confidentiality, Wiesbaden

In 2000, the statistical disclosure control of outputs (OSDC) was largely limited to models of table protection developed by and intended for national statistical institutes (NSIs), as a particular branch of general SDC theory. However, in this centu... Read More about Towards a comprehensive theory and practice of output SDC.

Disclosure risks in odds ratios and logistic regression (2022)
Presentation / Conference
Derrick, B., Green, E., Ritchie, F., & White, P. (2022, April). Disclosure risks in odds ratios and logistic regression. Paper presented at Scottish Economic Society Annual Conference 2022: Special session 'Protecting confidentiality in social science research outputs', Glasgow

When publishing statistics from confidential data, there exists a risk that the statistic might inadvertently reveal confidential information. Statistical disclosure control (SDC) aims to reduce that risk to an acceptable level. Most SDC theory is co... Read More about Disclosure risks in odds ratios and logistic regression.

Training analysts in the management of confidential data (2022)
Working Paper
Green, E., & Ritchie, F. Training analysts in the management of confidential data

With researchers increasingly gaining access to confidentiality data through restricted environments, interest has grown in the training of those researchers to protect confidentiality and to use the secure facility effectively. Researcher training,... Read More about Training analysts in the management of confidential data.

Statistical disclosure control for HESA: Part 1: Review of SDC theory (2021)
Report
Green, E., & Ritchie, F. (2021). Statistical disclosure control for HESA: Part 1: Review of SDC theory. Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

This report for the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is a summary of statistical disclosure control (SDC) methods for tabular outputs.

Automatic Checking of Research Outputs (ACRO): A tool for dynamic disclosure checks (2021)
Journal Article
Green, E., Ritchie, F., & Smith, J. (2021). Automatic Checking of Research Outputs (ACRO): A tool for dynamic disclosure checks. ESS Statistical Working Papers, 2021 Edition, https://doi.org/10.2785/75954

This paper discusses the issues surrounding the creation of an automatic tool to reduce the burden of output checking in research environments. It describes ACRO (Automatic Checking of Research Outputs), a Stata tool written as a proof-of-concept, an... Read More about Automatic Checking of Research Outputs (ACRO): A tool for dynamic disclosure checks.

The present and future of confidential microdata access: Post-workshop report (2021)
Presentation / Conference
Green, E., Ritchie, F., Tava, F., Ashford, W., & Ferrer Breda, P. (2021, July). The present and future of confidential microdata access: Post-workshop report. Presented at The Present and Future of Microdata Access

In the summer of 2021, the University of the West of England, in collaboration with UN Economic Commission for Europe, Eurostat, INXEDA and statistical organisations across the world, hosted a workshop to review lessons learnt in microdata access ove... Read More about The present and future of confidential microdata access: Post-workshop report.

The present and future of confidential microdata access [draft] (2021)
Presentation / Conference
Green, E., & Ritchie, F. (2021, July). The present and future of confidential microdata access [draft]. Presented at The Present and Future of Microdata Access

This briefing document was prepared for the DRAGoN conference 'The Present and Future of Microdata Access', 5th-9th July 2021. It provides an introduction to the topics to be covered in the conference.

Process and economic evaluation of the ODI R&D programme: Final report (2021)
Report
Alves, K., Tava, F., Whittard, D., Green, E., Beata Kreft, M., & Ritchie, F. (2021). Process and economic evaluation of the ODI R&D programme: Final report. London: Open Data Institute

The Open Data Institute was funded by Innovate UK to undertake a major programme of Research and Development on "Data Innovation for the UK", which was re-scoped and funded on a yearly basis for a total of 4 years (called, for short, "The R&D program... Read More about Process and economic evaluation of the ODI R&D programme: Final report.

Keeping it real: Towards a documentary film policy for the UK (2020)
Report
Presence, S., Spicer, A., Quigley, A., & Green, E. (2020). Keeping it real: Towards a documentary film policy for the UK. Bristol: AHRC

This report presents the findings of a survey of UK feature documentary producers and directors that was conducted in the summer of 2019 under the auspices of the ‘UK Feature Docs’ research project, an AHRC-funded study of the UK’s feature-length doc... Read More about Keeping it real: Towards a documentary film policy for the UK.

Understanding output checking (2020)
Report
Green, E., Ritchie, F., & Smith, J. (2020). Understanding output checking. Luxembourg: European Commission (Eurostat - Methodology Directorate)

This report for Eurostat (Methodology) considers the conceptual and practical issues that need to be addressed in designing and implementing automatic disclosure control checking for statistical research outputs. The report covers - The basic theo... Read More about Understanding output checking.