Anonymity

From EvaluationWiki

A guarantee provided to subjects, in one approach to research, which requires that no-one including the researcher can tie the data to its subject or author. This can be achieved when responses to a questionnaire that only requires the respondent to check boxes are sent in from free-access public computer terminals to a single email address. It's not possible for most interviewing, although if the subject talks from behind a screen, or from a public phone, over a phone line that has a voice-modifier installed, one is perhaps 80% on the scale of anonymity. In guaranteeing confidentiality, on the other hand, the experimenter only undertakes to keep the data from being seen by anyone besides himself or herself. A judge may require the disclosure of such data, however, so the intent of the experimenter/evaluator is not enough to guarantee confidentiality unless a complete willingness to go to prison for contempt of court is part of the deal. It should be kept in mind that anonymity is sometimes against the interest of the subject, especially in the medical arena, since subsequent events may disclose results that would greatly benefit the subject if s/he could be contacted by the experimenter.