Definition: Waiver approach

Category: Statistical methodologies

Instead of suppressing tabular data, some agencies ask respondents for permission to publish cells even though doing so may cause these respondents' sensitive information to be estimated accurately. This is referred to as the waiver approach. Waivers are signed records of the respondents' granting permission to publish such cells. This method is most useful with small surveys or sets of tables involving only a few cases of dominance, where only a few waivers are needed. Of course, respondents must believe that their data are not particularly sensitive before they will sign waivers. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/SDC_Handbook.pdf