Protecting the Identity of Participants in Qualitative Research

Abstract Social science researchers rely on study participants to provide information about themselves, and pledging to protect their identities is generally standard practice. This is usually specified through professional associations or policies and laws governing research agencies and institutions. Conventional methods of protecting participants’ identities in quantitative research are undergoing a major overhaul in response to relatively new threats brought about by the sheer volume of large publicly available datasets along with powerful and affordable computing capabilities that enable data linkages and respondent re-identification. These developments have raised new questions about qualitative research products that previously may have been considered less vulnerable to re-identification. In this paper, we first summarize a range of conventional methods of protecting respondents’ identities used in both quantitative and qualitative research. We then discuss the relatively new threats to confidentiality brought about by the internet, computing, and social media age. Next, we bring the focus to qualitative research specifically and discuss the development of a novel approach to a systematic method of disclosure avoidance for at least a subset of qualitative research products: typical research aimed at pretesting and evaluation of survey questions, data collection instruments, and related materials used for household surveys in the federal statistical system. We frame the discussion in terms of risk and mitigation. That is, we aim to articulate the nature of qualitative methods and data, the risks posed by the dissemination of qualitative information products, and consider how these risks might reasonably be mitigated while maximizing utility. Finally, we pull back the lens and discuss how the method could be applied to research outside the context of the federal statistical system if certain criteria are met.