A Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) is a file of responses to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) surveys or censuses that have had specific identifying information about persons and organisations confidentialised.
The unit level for a CURF may be a household, an income unit or a family. CURF Microdata is the most detailed level of the ABS statistical data and it is made freely available to researchers in Universities, Government and the private sector.
Typically the ABS Microdata is available in the following subject areas:
- health, disability, nutrition
- census household sample files
- childcare
- business innovation
- business characteristics and performance
- education,literacy and training
- household expenditure
- income and housing costs
- labour force mobility, earnings
- timeuse
VU Academics and Postgrad students wanting to apply for CURF Microdata are required to register through the ABS website (follow the under Step 2 of 'How to Apply for Microdata'). There is an FAQ section on the Microdata webpage to help you with the application process.
Once registered a message will be sent to the University’s CURF Contact Officer, Gillian Laughton (gillian.laughton@vu.edu.au), who will moderate the access and distribute the data.
If you are working as part of a team, all participants should make a separate application for the CURF Microdata access.
If you'd like to use TableBuilder with your Microdata, please contact Amanda Goodie (amanda.goodie@vu.edu.au) for access to the TableBuilder application within VU.
The ABS also has a newsletter to alert you to new releases of its Microdata.
