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How to carry out register-based health services
research in Finland?
Compiling complex study data in the REDD
project
Kajantie Mira, Manderbacka Kristiina, McCallum Alison, Notkola
Irma-Leena, Arffmann Martti, Forssas Erja, Karvonen Sakari,
Kortteinen Matti, Leyland Alastair, Keskimäki Ilmo
Suomenkielinen tiivistelmä
English abstract
English abstract
This report uses the research project 'Regional
disparities, social segregation and socioeconomic patterning: Where
do inequities in access to health care arise?' (REDD) as an example
of health services research that makes use of register data. The
REDD project aims to evaluate the association between area
variation, urbanisation, socioeconomic patterning, the development
of social segregation in Finland and their contribution to the
changing regional and socioeconomic gradients in health and access
to health care. In this report the development and progress of the
REDD project are described in order to share experiences on
carrying out register-based research in health and health care. The
report can be used as material for research training and
teaching.
Register-based research differs from other ways of
collecting data in that the only hypotheses that can be tested are
those for which data already exists or can be constructed.
Furthermore, the process of finalising the research questions is an
iterative one, determined by the receipt of permission to use the
registers selected, the process of data compilation, the extent to
which data cleaning yields analysable variables and the technical
limitations in developing the actual research datasets.
The report documents the planning and compilation
of the REDD study data, problems encountered and solutions chosen
and provides brief examples of potential uses of the data. It
outlines the challenges and benefits of register-based health care
research for researchers planning to use similar data. The report
examines the background of the REDD project, its objectives for
using register data and the impact of the data sources chosen on
the planning of the study settings and the ability to establish the
datasets necessary to analyse the questions posed in the research
plan. The report includes a brief introduction to the legislation,
the relevant statistical register authorities, the process of
applying for data and the methods used to compile the data. It
illustrates how the final research data sets were formed, provides
examples of unexpected defects in the data and draws conclusions on
the use of register data in health services research.
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Published 22.9.2006, Updated
3.9.2007
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