Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Topics
Data & Maps
Surveys & Programs
Resource Library
Approximate String Comparison and its Effect on an Advanced Record Linkage System
Approximate String Comparison and its Effect on an Advanced Record Linkage System
Working Paper Number RR97-02
Introduction
Record linkage, sometimes referred to as information retrieval (Frakes and Baeza-Yates 1992), is needed for the creation, unduplication, and maintenance of name and address lists. This paper describes string comparators and their effect in a production matching system. Because many lists have typographical errors in more than 20% of first names and also in last names, effective methods for dealing with typographical error can greatly improve matching efficacy. The enhanced methods of approximate string comparison deals with typographical variations and scanning errors. The values returned by the string comparator are used in a statistical model for adjusting parameters that are automatically estimated by an expectation-maximization algorithm for latent class, log linear models of the type arising in the Fellegi-Sunter model of record linkage (1969). Overall matching efficacy is further improved by linear assignment algorithm that forces 1-1 matching.
Others in Series
Related Information
WORKING PAPER
Statistical Research Reports and Studies
Page Last Revised - October 28, 2021
✕
Is this page helpful?
Yes
No
Yes
No✕
NO THANKS
255 characters maximum
255 characters maximum reached
255 characters maximum reached
✕
Thank you for your feedback.
Comments or suggestions?
Comments or suggestions?
