Record linkage: statistical models for matching computer records.

"We wish to measure the evidence that a pair of records relates to the same, rather than different, individuals. The paper emphasizes statistical models which can be fitted to a file of record pairs known to be correctly matched, and then used to estimate likelihood ratios. A number of models are developed and applied to U.K. immigration statistics. The combination of likelihood ratios for possibly correlated record fields is discussed." A series of comments on the paper is also included, as well as a reply to those comments by the author (pp. 312-20). excerpt