<b>synthpop</b>: Bespoke Creation of Synthetic Data in <i>R</i>

TLDR

Confidentiality constraints often restrict access to unique microdata, and synthetic data can replicate the original data’s relationships without disclosing records. The synthpop package for R generates synthetic versions of original datasets. The authors describe the methodology and illustrate the package features with a survey data example.

Abstract

In many contexts, confidentiality constraints severely restrict access to unique and valuable microdata. Synthetic data which mimic the original observed data and preserve the relationships between variables but do not contain any disclosive records are one possible solution to this problem. The synthpop package for R, introduced in this paper, provides routines to generate synthetic versions of original data sets. We describe the methodology and its consequences for the data characteristics. We illustrate the package features using a survey data example.