Access to microdata for scientific purposes
in European countries
Access to microdata for scientific purposes in Italy
Contact
Name of the microdata access service
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica – ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics)
Postal address
Via Cesare Balbo 16
00184 - Roma (Italy)
Website
Access conditions
General conditions
Istat provides microdata files from its surveys free of charge in compliance with the regulations in force. The files released are those available at the time of the request and may be subject to statistical revisions.
For more information, please visit https://www.istat.it/en/data/microdata/
Conditions for non-resident researchers
Non-resident researchers may have access under the same conditions as national researchers.
Conditions for students
There are no constraints for public use files as they can be downloaded directly and free of charge from Istat website.
Access to other types of files is restricted according to current legislation.
Legal framework
- Legislative Decree 322/1989 establishing the National Statistical System (Sistan);
- Regulation (CE) n. 223/2009;
- Directive No. 11/2018 of the Committee for the Guidance and Coordination of Statistical Information (Comstat) which adopts the “Guidelines for Access for Scientific Purposes to Elementary Data of the National Statistical System,” implementing Article 5-ter of Legislative Decree No. 33/2013;
- Provision 514/2018 of the Italian Data Protection Authority (“Deontological rules for processing for statistical or scientific research purposes carried out within the National Statistical System”).
How much does it cost?
Access to all data from Istat is free of charge.
How long does it take to obtain data?
Italian public use files are available on the Istat website and access is immediate after registration. Evaluation of the request and authorization to access scientific use files takes up about 15 working days. The authorization and preparation of the working environment for access to secure use files in the Research Data Centre of Istat (ADELE Laboratory) generally takes up to 15 working days.
Information on access
Public use files, standard files and scientific use files: https://www.istat.it/en/data/microdata
ADELE Laboratory (Istat RDC): https://www.istat.it/en/data/microdata/adele-laboratory/
Other
The request of Istat microdata (with the exception of public use files) has to be formally submitted through the Contact Centre, by selecting the service “Release of microdata”: https://contact.istat.it/s/?language=en_US
For access to Standard files: https://www.istat.it/en/data/microdata/standard/
For access to Scientific use files: https://www.istat.it/en/data/microdata/scientific-use-files-sufs/
For access to Secure use files in the ADELE Laboratory (Istat RDC): https://www.istat.it/en/data/microdata/adele-laboratory/
Types of microdata available for Italy
Public Use Files (PUF)
Public use files are sets of records that can be downloaded free of charge from Istat website.
Istat disseminates two types of microdata for public use:
- MIcro.STAT files are developed for some surveys starting from the corresponding scientific use file to which methods of statistical disclosure control have been applied to reduce the risk of identification of statistical units. In some cases, processing of mIcro.STAT files may produce results that differ from those published or calculated from the corresponding files for research purposes;
- Historical public use files are developed from standard files already produced in the past; historical public use files have a different structure from mIcro.STAT due to a different methodology of statistical disclosure control.
Standard files
Standard files regard a number of statistical surveys on individuals and households. They do not contain any direct identifiers and are processed using procedures that do not allow them to be linked to individual respondents.
Standard files are released upon duly motivated request for study and research purposes.
To acquire standard files the requesting party must:
- briefly describe the research content and the purposes of the data use;
- indicate the place where the data will be stored and processed;
- undertake to use the data only for the stated purposes;
- undertake not to provide third parties with the microdata, allowing access, under their own responsibility, only to persons directly involved in the work for which they have been requested.
Standard files can be requested through the Istat Contact Centre, by selecting the service “Release of microdata” and filling out the relevant online form (only in Italian).
Standard files are no longer produced by Istat as they are gradually being replaced by Scientific use files. Therefore, only those files that have already been disseminated can be requested.
Scientific Use Files (SUF)
Scientific use files are specially released for the purposes of scientific research and relate to statistical surveys on individuals, households and enterprises. These are microdata files, with no direct identifiers, which have been subject to control methods to protect confidentiality.
Scientific use files may be requested exclusively for carrying out specific research projects by researchers belonging to Entities recognised as research institutions by Comstat or included in the list of research Institutions recognised by Eurostat.
To apply for access to SUFs, the Principal researcher of an accredited research entity must submit:
- Research proposal
- Confidentiality Declaration of the Principal Researcher of the Research proposal
- Confidentiality Declaration of individual Researchers involved in the project
- Additional certification (in case of Joint projects)
Secure Use Files (SecUF)
Secure use files are microdata files of all Istat’s statistical surveys, containing no direct identifiers, no special categories of personal data and no personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences. Istat makes them available within its Research Data Centre, the Laboratory for the Analysis of ELEmentari Data (ADELE), offering the world of scientific research a tool for carrying out independent analyses on survey microdata, in compliance with the data protection regulations.
The Laboratory for the Analysis of Elementary Data is a physical data centre where researchers may access for scientific purposes – upon request – survey microdata, to which no further methods of statistical disclosure control have been applied.
In the Laboratory, data security and statistical confidentiality are guaranteed by strict control on working methods and users’ analyses results.
Secure use files may be requested exclusively for carrying out specific research projects by researchers belonging to Entities recognised as research institutions by Comstat or included in the list of research Institutions recognised by Eurostat.
To apply for access to SUFs, the Principal researcher of an accredited research entity must submit:
- Research proposal
- Confidentiality Declaration of the Principal Researcher of the Research proposal
- Confidentiality Declaration of individual Researchers involved in the project
- Additional certification (in case of Joint projects)
In the ADELE Laboratory (Istat RDC) it is possible to conduct statistical analyses on:
- microdata collected and validated by Istat through the various surveys on individuals, households and businesses;
- some databases integrating different sources, designed to expand information at the level of individual enterprises
Analysis results are verified for compliance with the given data protection legislation after completion of the project. Only results that comply with the defined rules can be issued.
Access to microdata by type of person
Public Use Files | Scientific Use Files | Secure Use Files | |
---|---|---|---|
Public | Yes | No | No |
Students | Yes | No | No |
PhD students | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Researchers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Foreign researchers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Modes of access by microdata type
Public Use Files | Scientific Use Files | Secure Use Files | |
---|---|---|---|
Online access | Yes | No | No |
For download | Yes | Yes | No |
Onsite access | No | No | Yes |
Remote access | No | No | Yes |
Remote execution | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Microdatasets available for Italy
Scientific Use Files (SUF)
Public Use Files (PUF)
*They are periodically disseminated by Istat (every 3 years).
Secure Use Files (SecUF)
Secure use files are available for all Istat's statistical surveys.
Other access points in Europe
Disclaimer
The pages above provide information on microdata disseminated at the national level by the statistical institutes in the European countries and on microdata disseminated by Eurostat. The pages describe the data and the procedures for requesting access as well as the available types of microdata files (Public Use Files, Scientific Use Files, and Secure Use Files).
This information was initially collected by CASD/GENES for the CIMES database developed for Data without Boundaries project (funded by the 7th Framework Programme, the EU's research funding programme between 2007 and 2013). CIMES stands for Centralising and Integrating Metadata from European Statistics. Various organisations (ADP, CED, CNRS-Réseau Quetelet, FORS, GESIS, RODA, ONS, and UL) contributed to the creation of CIMES by collecting and structuring the metadata for the period of the Data without Boundaries project (2011-2015). In 2021, Eurostat moved the CIMES database to the CROS platform to facilitate updates of countries' information. Eurostat would like to thank all CIMES developers, especially CASD, for sharing the CIMES database and for all efficient collaboration.