Record Linkage, Incorporating Imputation for Missing Agreement Patterns, and Modeling Correlation Patterns Between Fields
A matrix of agreement patterns and counts for record pairs is the input for the procedure. An EM algorithm is used to impute plausible values for missing record pairs. A second EM algorithm, incorporating possible correlations between per-field agreement, is used to estimate posterior probabilities that each pair is a true match - i.e. constitutes the same individual.