The Usefulness of Microdata and some Strategies for the Storing, Using, and Disposing of it

Abstract

The storage and retrieval of microdata involve serious problems because of the complex documentation required. The changing computer technology and the complex data-manipulation are statistical procedures. At best, secondary use will remain expensive, and its funding a problem. Reductions in cost of access require investments in anticipation of later use which may be self justifying (by increasing that use) but cannot be funded by those future users. A stepwise procedure for access will probably involve securing and reading the initial published analysis, then securing volumes of printed documentation (code books are not enough) and ultimately securing a data file. Now there is a problem of knowing who else has worked, or is working, on the same data.