From health research to social research: Privacy, methods, approaches

Using new databases on education and income assistance to provide information on the whole Manitoba population has involved linking files while preserving privacy, scaling educational achievement, assessing exposure to a given neighborhood, and measuring family circumstances. Questions being studied concern the role of the socioeconomic gradient and infant health in child development, the comparative influence of family and neighborhood in later well being, and the long-term effects of poverty reduction. Issues of organization of research, gaps in the data, and productivity are discussed.