A flexible model for record linkage
提出一种灵活的记录链接方法FlexRL，通过潜在变量模型和随机期望最大化算法平衡准确性与可扩展性，适用于处理注册错误和标识信息随时间变化的数据，已在R包中实现。
Abstract Combining data from various sources empowers researchers to explore innovative questions, for example those raised by conducting healthcare monitoring studies. However, the lack of a unique identifier often poses challenges. Record linkage procedures determine whether pairs of observations collected on different occasions belong to the same individual using partially identifying variables (e.g. birth year, postal code). Existing methodologies typically involve a compromise between computational efficiency and accuracy. Traditional approaches simplify this task by condensing information, yet they neglect dependencies among linkage decisions and disregard the one-to-one relationship required to establish coherent links. Modern approaches offer a comprehensive representation of the data generation process, at the expense of computational overhead and reduced flexibility. We propose a flexible method, that adapts to varying data complexities, addressing registration errors and accommodating changes of the identifying information over time. Our approach balances accuracy and scalability, estimating the linkage using a Stochastic Expectation Maximization algorithm on a latent variable model. We illustrate the ability of our methodology to connect observations using large real data applications and demonstrate the robustness of our model to the linking variables quality in a simulation study. The proposed algorithm FlexRL is implemented and available in an open source R package.