Prerequisites: 

The statistical software R will be used for illustrations and for (some of) the homework assignments. Thus, knowledge of R is required to be able to complete the assignments. Some background regarding general linear modelling is expected. Familiarity with the concept of Bayesian statistics is helpful but not required.

Description: 

This course will provide a gentle introduction to statistical disclosure control with a focus on generating synthetic data for maintaining the confidentiality of the survey respondents. The first part of the course will introduce several traditional approaches for data protection that are widely used at statistical agencies. Some limitations of these approaches will also be discussed. The second part of the course will introduce synthetic data as a possible alternative. This part of the course will discuss different approaches to generating synthetic datasets in detail. Possible modeling strategies and analytical validity evaluations will be assessed and potential measures to quantify the remaining risk of disclosure will be presented. To provide the participants with hands on experience, all steps will be illustrated using simulated and real data examples in R.