Record linkage is the act of bringing together records from two files that are believed to belong to the same unit (e.g., a person or business). It is a low‐cost way of increasing the set of variables available for analysis. Errors may arise in the linking process if an error‐free unit identifier is not available. Two types of linking errors include an incorrect link (records belonging to two different units are linked) and a missed record (an unlinked record for which a correct link exists). Naively ignoring linkage errors may mean that analysis of the linked file is biased. This paper outlines a “weighting approach” to making correct inference about regression coefficients and population totals in the presence of such linkage errors. This approach is designed for analysts who do not have the expertise or time to use specialist software required by other approaches but who are comfortable using weights in inference. The performance of the estimator is demonstrated in a simulation study.

中文翻译：

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加权概率推断数据的加权方法

记录链接是将来自两个文件的记录归为同一单元（例如，一个人或一个企业）的记录。这是增加可用于分析的变量集的低成本方法。如果无错误的单元标识符不可用，则链接过程中可能会出现错误。两种类型的链接错误包括错误的链接（链接了属于两个不同单元的记录）和丢失的记录（存在正确链接的未链接记录）。天真地忽略链接错误可能意味着对链接文件的分析有偏差。本文概述了一种“加权方法”，以在存在这种链接错误的情况下对回归系数和总体总数做出正确的推断。该方法是为没有专业知识或时间来使用其他方法所需的专业软件的分析人员设计的，但他们愿意使用权重进行推断。估计器的性能在仿真研究中得到了证明。