Frequently asked questions
What is microdata.no?
microdata.no is designed to provide immediate, application-free, and online access to sharp, detailed register data that you can use for statistics, research, and analysis.
Norway has many good sources of register data, and Norwegian law allows them to be de-identified and used to compile statistical results and analyses, including research. To gain traditional access to such microdata from the register, you must go through an extensive application process. In addition, preparing the data is time-consuming and costly.
microdata.no is an essential supplement and a complementary solution for those who order access to microdata from Statistics Norway. The service provides instant access and allows the user to prepare register data without applying. The analysis of the data can take place in microdata.no, or they can be exported to a secure analysis room upon application for traditional access.
What kind of data is available in microdata.no?
Microdata.no provides access to a wide selection of register data in areas such as demography, education, income, unemployment, employment, social security, living conditions and other socio-economic conditions. In addition to person level data, data on vehicles, traffic accidents, electricity consumption etc. is also offered. All data can be aggregated to a higher level such as e.g. household/family, district, municipality, county, county, or various types of population groupings.
View the full variable overview here.How do I proceed to get access to microdata.no?
To gain access to microdata.no, you must contact your contact person at your institution/workplace. It is the institution, study site or employer who requests access and registers the users. Access is available for employees and students at Norwegian universities and colleges, approved research institutions, public agencies, and consulting firms working on behalf of the public sector.
More information about access can be found here.Do you have functionality X?
To check if microdata.no supports a specific functionality, such as regression or other analysis methods, you can search the user manual. Use the search function in the top right to find relevant commands or descriptions by typing in keywords such as "regression", "analysis", or other keywords related to what you are looking for. This will give you an overview of available functions. You can also search for specific commands or functions in the search field, e.g., "regress" or "logit".
You can explore more in the user manual.Is it possible to export data to other programs?
It is not possible to export raw data from microdata.no to external programs, but it is possible to export analysis results. Microdata.no is designed to give users access to analyze register data securely without disclosing raw data. Analyses are performed within the tool, which offers a wide range of functions and commands for different analysis needs.
More information about exporting analysis results can be found in the user manual.How can I export analysis results as a file?
You can copy analysis results and use them in other programs by clicking on the copy button in the upper left of the analysis result. To get the data as a CSV file, select "Semicolon-separated values" before copying. Then you can paste the data into a text editing program and save them as a CSV file.
Why does the statistics I make in microdata.no deviate from Statistics Norway's (SSB) official figures?
Statistics made in microdata.no can deviate from SSB's official figures for several reasons. Different data sources can yield different results, so it's important to make sure that data is compared from the same source. The measurement time can also vary; while some statistics are based on annual, quarterly or monthly figures, others use specific dates, such as January 1 or November 16. Population restrictions, such as age groups or resident status, can also create differences. In addition, SSB often performs extra processing and "cleaning" of data which is not necessarily done in microdata.no. Finally, privacy mechanisms, such as noise addition and censoring of extreme values, can affect the results and cause deviations in averages and other statistical calculations.
For more information on deviations, see here.Why can't I combine different unit types in a dataset?
It is not possible to directly combine different unit types in the same dataset because the variables in a dataset must have the same unit type, which is usually people identified by PERSONID_1. When you import variables, the data is automatically linked, and the system expects all variables to have the same unit type.
To analyze data at other unit levels, such as municipal or event level, these data must first be processed before they can be linked to a person dataset. Data at lower unit levels than person, such as events or courses, must be aggregated to the person level using the collapse() command. Data at the same or higher unit levels, such as municipality, can be directly linked using a common variable as the linking key in the merge command.
You can read more about this in the user manual.Why don't my numbers add up when I sum tables and other calculations?
Since microdata.no consists of register data, it is crucial to ensure that individuals cannot be identified. Therefore, several privacy measures have been implemented, including noise addition. The numbers may differ when you sum tables or make calculations because the data is noise-added to protect privacy. This means that the number of units may be slightly adjusted, and sums of numerical variables are adjusted correspondingly to maintain correct averages.
You can read more about noise addition and the other measures for confidentiality here.Why am I being stopped by the disclosure control due to too few measurement units?
The reason this happens is that it is not allowed to define survey populations with fewer than 1000 people in microdata.no. If you try to create a population that falls below this limit, you will receive a message that stops the operation to protect privacy.
Can I use other programming languages in microdata.no?
No, microdata.no does not support the use of other programming languages. The tool has its own syntax similar to what is used in other analysis tools.
You can find many examples of how the syntax is used in the user manual.