Introduction: Content, Design and Structure of Major Databases with Historical Longitudinal Population Data

Author(s)

  • George Alter University of Michigan
  • Kees Mandemakers nternational Institute of Social History, Amsterdam & Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Hélène Vézina Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51964/hlcs15759

Keywords:

Historical demography, Historical microdata, Life course, Social science history, Record linkage, Standardization historical data, Longitudinal research

Abstract

In recent years the development of historical databases reconstructing the lives of large populations accelerated. These considerable investments of time and money have greatly expanded possibilities for new research in history, demography, sociology, economics, and other disciplines. This special issue describes the content and design of 23 important historical databases. Authors were given the freedom to discuss a range of practical and technical decisions from evaluating archival sources to crowdsourcing data entry. The most common issue is nominative record linkage, but we find different choices between semi-automatic and fully automatic linkage techniques and various approaches for connecting diverse sources. Some databases describe special problems, like linking Chinese names, handwritten text recognition or the construction of a release in IDS-format. Other databases offer detailed descriptions of sources or discuss prospects for including new datasets.

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Published

2023-07-17

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Alter, G., Mandemakers, K., & Vézina, H. (2023). Introduction: Content, Design and Structure of Major Databases with Historical Longitudinal Population Data. Historical Life Course Studies, 13, 228-234. https://doi.org/10.51964/hlcs15759