Privacy Protection, Measurement Error, and the Integration of Remote Sensing and Socioeconomic Survey Data

TL;DR

This study examines how privacy-preserving spatial anonymization in large-scale socioeconomic surveys affects measurement accuracy when integrating with remote sensing weather data, finding limited impact on estimates but highlighting the importance of weather data choice.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of measurement error introduced by spatial anonymization methods in survey data integration with remote sensing weather data.

Findings

Spatial anonymization has limited impact on weather-agriculture estimates.

The choice of remote sensing weather product influences measurement error.

Careful selection of weather data is crucial for accurate analysis.

Abstract

When publishing socioeconomic survey data, survey programs implement a variety of statistical methods designed to preserve privacy but which come at the cost of distorting the data. We explore the extent to which spatial anonymization methods to preserve privacy in the large-scale surveys supported by the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) introduce measurement error in econometric estimates when that survey data is integrated with remote sensing weather data. Guided by a pre-analysis plan, we produce 90 linked weather-household datasets that vary by the spatial anonymization method and the remote sensing weather product. By varying the data along with the econometric model we quantify the magnitude and significance of measurement error coming from the loss of accuracy that results from protect privacy measures. We find that spatial anonymization techniques currently in general use have, on average, limited to no impact on estimates of the relationship between weather and agricultural productivity. However, the degree to which spatial anonymization introduces mismeasurement is a function of which remote sensing weather product is used in the analysis. We conclude that care must be taken in choosing a remote sensing weather product when looking to integrate it with publicly available survey data.