Definition: Suppression

Category: Statistical methodologies

One of the most commonly used ways of protecting sensitive cells in a table is via suppression. It is obvious that in a row or column with a suppressed sensitive cell, at least one additional cell must be suppressed, or the value in the sensitive cell could be calculated exactly by subtraction from the marginal total. For this reason, certain other cells must also be suppressed. These are referred to as secondary suppressions. While it is possible to select cells for secondary suppression manually, it is difficult to guarantee that the result provides adequate protection. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/SDC_Handbook.pdf