Determinants of Consent to Administrative Records Linkage in Longitudinal Surveys: Evidence from Next Steps

The value of enhancing survey data through linkage to administrative records is increasingly recognised among researchers. Linking survey and administrative data enables rich information from administrative records on a broad range of substantive areas to be combined with survey responses. This chapter extends the existing knowledge about administrative records linkage consent and addresses some of the gaps in the literature by exploring determinants of consent in a large‐scale longitudinal mixed mode cohort study in the UK. It looks at the existing literature, and describes the data and methods. The chapter presents the results and summarizes the findings and discusses their implications. In line with previous research, the findings show the potential for over‐ or under‐representation of population subgroups in survey data linked to administrative data.