The Temporal Dimension in Data Bases Cristina

The advantages brought by the proper management of information in terms of quality, integrity, and robustness in data manipulation is widely known. This is particularly true for statisticians that must grapple with multidimensionality in data, complex semantics in queries, and large quantities of data needing to be elaborated. In this context, an appropriate approach to temporal information is especially important: dynamic analyses are involved in many statistical fields, and information systems must be adequate to face the complexity of temporal logic. In particular, the structure of statistical sources must be optimised for a complete exploitation of their informative potentialities and in order to make them linkable to other sources, with the respect to their temporal coherence. The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the potentialities that a correct approach to information management can bring to statistical analysis, with particular attention to the problem of temporal data storing.