Population-Level Administrative Data: A Resource to Advance Psychological Science

Abstract

Population-level administrative data—data on individuals’ interactions with administrative systems, such as health-care, social-welfare, criminal-justice, and education systems—are a fruitful resource for research into behavior, development, and well-being. However, administrative data are underutilized in psychological science. Here, we review advantages of population-level administrative data for psychological research and provide examples of advances in psychological theory arising from administrative data studies. We focus on advantages in three areas: the collection and recording of population-level administrative data, the data’s large scale, and unique data linkages. We also describe ethical issues as well as methodological considerations and limitations in population administrative data research and outline future directions to enable psychological scientists to more fully capitalize on administrative data resources.