Outputs (14)

The inadvertently revealing statistic: A systemic gap in statistical training? (2024)
Journal Article

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

Using pedagogical and psychological insights to train analysts using confidential data (2023)
Journal Article

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 Using pedagogical and psychological insights to train analysts using confidential data.

SACRO guide to statistical output checking (2023)
Other

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.

Disclosure control issues in complex medical data (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

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.

Towards a comprehensive theory and practice of output SDC (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

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.

The just-about-right pilot sample size to control the error margin (2023)
Journal Article

In practice, the required sample size for a two-arm randomised controlled trial cannot always be determined pre-study with great accuracy. This lack of accuracy has economic, ethical and scientific implications. The sample size for a pilot study is... Read More about The just-about-right pilot sample size to control the error margin.

The nonequilibrium potential today: A short review (2022)
Journal Article

A brief review is made of the birth and evolution of the “nonequilibrium potential” (NEP) concept. As if providing a landscape for qualitative reasoning were not helpful enough, the NEP adds a quantitative dimension to the qualitative theory of diffe... Read More about The nonequilibrium potential today: A short review.

10 is the safest number that there's ever been (2022)
Journal Article

When checking frequency and magnitude tables for disclosure risk, the cell threshold (the minimum number of observations in each cell) is a crucial parameter. In rules-based environments, this is a hard limit on what can or can't be published. In pri... Read More about 10 is the safest number that there's ever been.

Statistical disclosure control for HESA: Part 1: Review of SDC theory (2021)
Report

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

Estimation of the two-group pilot sample size with a cautionary note on Browne’s formula (2021)
Journal Article

Using data obtained from a pilot study, Browne (1995) proposed a procedure for estimating the sample size needed for a definitive two-arm randomised controlled trial when the minimal important difference is specified. Simulations confirm these findi... Read More about Estimation of the two-group pilot sample size with a cautionary note on Browne’s formula.

Ordinal Logistic Regression as an alternative analysis strategy for the comparison of two independent samples (2021)
Journal Article

The two group between subjects design is pervasive with analyses often performed using the Mann Whitney Rank Sum test or using the Welch variant of the t-test. Using simulation it is shown that a dummy variable ordinal logistic regression (OLR) mode... Read More about Ordinal Logistic Regression as an alternative analysis strategy for the comparison of two independent samples.

Disclosure risks in odds ratios and logistic regression
Presentation / Conference Contribution

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.

Risk of disclosure when reporting commonly used univariate statistics
Presentation / Conference Contribution

When basic or descriptive summary statistics are reported, it may be possible that the entire sample of observations is inadvertently disclosed, or that members within a sample will be able to work out responses of others. Three sets of univariate su... Read More about Risk of disclosure when reporting commonly used univariate statistics.

The statbarn: A new model for output statistical disclosure control
Presentation / Conference Contribution

A major success for research this century has been the growth of secure facilities allowing research access to detailed sensitive personal data. This has also raised awareness of the problem of output disclosure risk, where statistics may inadvertent... Read More about The statbarn: A new model for output statistical disclosure control.