This thesis was originally submitted for examination in March 1983. Following the result of the viva in October of that year an appeal was lodged, and the subsequent proceedings lasted for almost four years. In October 1987 formal notification was made that the thesis could be revised and resubmitted. The prolonged length of the appeal proceedings has meant that the computing environment within which the research was set has developed significantly from the position in 1983. Indeed, in purely practical terms, the computing systems which were used at that time are no longer operational. The opportunity for making modifications and refinements to the record linkage system, and for incorporating additional primary source materials (even were sufficient human resources available), has therefore been removed. Under these circumstances, the record linkage strategies described in the revised thesis are precisely the same as those presented in the 1983 submission. For this reason and because of the extensive delays in carrying out the appeal proceedings it has not seemed appropriate to provide a full review of developments in the record linkage field beyond this date. Reference has, however, been made to the subsequent, crucial impact of the findings of the present research on the progress of the later phases of the 1851 Census National Sample Project, which I co-directed with Professor Michael Anderson at the University of Edinburgh. The entire conceptual and strategic approach to the organisation of family information in this project grew directly from perceptions which were central to the present research. Reference has also been made to the influence of the present research on the development of the SASPAC package, a computing system for handling the 1981 Population Census Small Area Statistics data for Great Britain. I was the chief systems designer of SASPAC, and the design and implementation methods which were adopted in this development drew heavily on the experience gained from the present research. Finally, the opportunity has been taken (in the new Section 10.2), to present the findings of some fresh analyses of 1851 household census data which serve to confirm the validity of the linkage strategies which have been developed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:329227 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Welford, John Anthony |
| Publisher | Open University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://oro.open.ac.uk/57291/ |
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