Access to survey microdata

Microdata refers to unit record and aggregate data that can be collected through surveys, censuses or administrative processes. Microdata is available to researchers in two ways via Stats NZ. The data can be accessed as a Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURFs) or via the Integrated Data Infrastructure in the Stats NZ Data Lab environment.

Survey datasets available to researchers

Once all identifying information about individuals has been removed or modified to protect individual information, the dataset becomes a Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF).

The following early Ministry of Health population survey CURFs are available via Stats NZ.

  • New Zealand Alcohol and Drug Use Survey 2007/08
  • National Children's Nutrition Survey 2002
  • National Nutrition Survey 1997
  • Adult National Nutrition Survey 2008/09
  • National Gambling Survey 2012/15
  • New Zealand Oral Health Survey 2009
  • New Zealand Tobacco Use Survey 2006
  • New Zealand Tobacco Use Survey 2008
  • New Zealand Tobacco Use Survey 2009
  • Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey 2003/04
  • World Health Organisation Study of Oral Health Outcomes (SOHO) 1988 New Zealand data
  • New Zealand Health Survey 1992/93 Adults only
  • New Zealand Health Survey 1996/97 Children
  • New Zealand Health Survey 1996/97 Adults
  • New Zealand Health Survey 2002/03 Adults only
  • New Zealand Health Survey 2006/07 Adults
  • New Zealand Health Survey 2006/07 Children

From 2011, the Ministry of Health integrated the New Zealand Health Survey and these other surveys (eg, Tobacco Use Survey, Alcohol and Drug Use Survey, etc) from its wider survey programme into a single survey, which is now in continuous operation. The New Zealand Health Survey includes a set of core questions that remain the same each year. It also includes supplementary questions that examine a topic in more depth. These ‘module’ questions change periodically. 

The following Ministry of Health population survey CURFs for the New Zealand Health Survey are available via Stats NZ. Please note the italicised ones are not yet available as CURFs.

New Zealand Health Survey Core CURFs with rotational modules, 2011/12–2020/21

Year of NZHS

Child module topic(s)

Adult module topic(s)

2011/12

Health service utilisation and patient experience

Health service utilisation and patient experience

Problem gambling

Racial discrimination

2012/13

Child development

Food security

Exposure to second-hand smoke

Alcohol use

Tobacco use

Drug use

2013/14

Long-term conditions

Health status

Disability status

Living standards

Housing quality

Exposure to second-hand smoke

Long-term conditions

Health status

Disability status

Living standards

Housing quality

2014/15

Child development

Food security

Rheumatic fever

Sexual and reproductive health

Biomedical tests

Rheumatic fever (under 25 years)

2015/16

Child development

Food security

Exposure to second-hand smoke

Rheumatic fever

Tobacco use

Rheumatic fever (under 25 years)

2016/17

Behavioural and developmental problems

Rheumatic fever

Mental health and substance use

Rheumatic fever (under 25 years)

Racial discrimination

2017/18

Health service utilisation and patient experience

Health service utilisation and patient experience

Understanding health and health care

2018/19

Dietary habits

 

Dietary habits

Alcohol use

2019/20

Household food security

Dietary habits

 

Household food security

Dietary habits

Alcohol use

2020/21

Child development

Household food security

COVID-19

Racial discrimination

How to access confidentialised unit record files

CURFs of Ministry of Health population surveys are potentially available to bona fide public-good researchers, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and Te Whatu Ora. They are available only after the key survey results have been released, and subject to certain terms and conditions.

The Ministry of Health population survey CURFs are in the Stats NZ Data Archive. Researcher access to these datasets is managed by Stats NZ.

Please go to Confidentialised Unit Record Files on the Stats NZ website to view the eligibility criteria, the protocol for applying for access and the application form to access microdata.

How to access the Integrated Data Infrastructure

The continuous New Zealand Health Survey microdata, excluding module data, are now in the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). This is a large research database which holds microdata about people and households. The data is about life events, like education, income, benefits, migration, justice, and health. It comes from government agencies, Stats NZ surveys, and non-government organisations (NGOs). The data is linked together, or integrated, to form the IDI. The IDI spine aims to capture everyone who has ever been a resident in New Zealand. At the end of the New Zealand Health Survey, respondents are asked if they consent to their survey responses being linked to other data – the data for those that consent is linked to the IDI spine.

The original data linkage consent statement in the 2011/12 Health Survey onwards was only for linking to health data. The data linkage statement was broadened in the 2020/21 New Zealand Health Survey to ‘other information routinely collected by government agencies’.  Data linkage consent rates only dipped slightly between the 2019/20 and the 2020/21 New Zealand Health Surveys indicating that the majority of 2011-2019 participants would have consented to the broader data linkage.

Researcher access to the IDI is managed by Stats NZ. Please go to Integrated Data Infrastructure on the Stats NZ website to apply for access to the integrated data and view the Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs). Stats NZ will only provide access to integrated data if all the ‘five safes’ conditions are met: safe people, safe projects, safe settings, safe data, and safe output.

Before Stats NZ add data to the IDI a privacy impact assessment is completed to evaluate any privacy risks. The PIA summarises the benefits and risks of linking data – the benefits must outweigh the risks and any risks must be managed and reviewed regularly. There is an overarching PIA which is a systematic evaluation of privacy and other risks associated with integrating data into the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), and how these risks are being managed. This overarching PIA also summarises some of the expected benefits of the IDI. All linking PIAs, such as the New Zealand Health Survey PIA should be read with the overarching PIA in mind.

If participants wish to learn more about how their information and data are being used, please email [email protected].

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