| Aggregated data |
means 'information about the population as a whole', such as the Census. |
| Big data |
means 'high-volume, high-velocity and/or high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight, decision making, and process optimization'[1] An example would be an analysis of the 153 million records from six databases required to understand the unplanned hospital stays of Western Australian seniors. |
| Confidentialised data |
See de-identified data. |
| Data linking |
means 'the bringing together of two or more data sets to create a new, richer data set.''[2] By bringing together sets of data that were previously isolated, researchers, clinicians and governments can deepen their understandings of the ways people actually use the health care system. This has the potential to inform government policy making and decisions about improving service delivery. [3] |
| Data custodian |
means 'agencies responsible for managing the use, disclosure and protection of source data used in a statistical data integration project. Data custodians collect and hold information on behalf of a data provider (defined as an individual, household, business or other organisation which supplies data either for statistical or administrative purposes). The role of data custodians may also extend to producing source data, in addition to their role as a holder of datasets.'[4] |
| Data linkage key |
means a data linkage key is a code that is constructed to replace identifying information, such as name, date of birth and address on a linked record in order to protect the privacy of the subjects of the study. By using a linkage key, researchers can link records that belong to the same person from multiple datasets without needing to know who the person is.[5] |
| De-identified data |
means 'a process by which a collection of data or information (for example, a dataset) is altered to remove or obscure personal identifiers and personal information (that is, information that would allow the identification of individuals who are the source or subject of the data or information).[6] |
| Enduring linkage |
means that once links between datasets are created, the links are maintained and data, as it is progressively added to the dataset, is checked against the existing data to create an enduring research resource.[7] |
| Ethics approval |
means 'review of research by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council or another body'.[8] |
| Integrating Authority |
means 'an authority responsible for the ongoing management of integrated data, ensuring it is kept secure, confidential and fit for the purposes of the approval process'.[9] The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare are an integrating authority. |
| Metadata |
is 'data about data'.[10] It can be of three types: definitional (provides definitions about aspect of the data), procedural operational (drives the collation of the data) or conceptual (dealing with concept sources and methods).[11] |
| Perturbed data |
See confidentialised data |
| Public interest certificate |
means an application made under the Privacy Act 1988 for a certificate to engage in an act or practice that breaches, or may breach, an Australian Privacy Principle.[12] |
| Unique identifier |
means 'a number or code that uniquely identifies a person, business or organisation, such as a passport number or Australian Business Number'.[13] |