Sometimes, researchers use these data to conduct important research. For example, as part of a recent fellowship funded by Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK), I used linked education records and police records to understand relationships between school performance and involvement in the criminal justice system. The population-level patterns we observe in the data can help us make recommendations to improve services and inform policy. Crucially, the data is de-identified before it’s shared with researchers like me, meaning that personal information is removed.
When I consult the public about my research using administrative data, I find that sometimes people are surprised to learn that information collected about them by public services is used for research. This lack of public awareness could pose a major problem if our work is perceived to be secretive and underhand, which in turn could erode general trust in public services and researchers.
For those of us conducting research using school records, I believe we have a particular duty to clearly publicise administrative data research among adolescents and young adults: school record data is being collected for this age group now, and is the future of educational research. So, I set about to promote awareness and support for administrative data research in this younger generation.