Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

HOW TO REVIEW THE LITERATURE AND CONDUCT ETHICAL STUDIES

individual but uses a fictitious name and location of

the individual and alters some characteristics. The

person’s identity is protected, and the individual is

unknown or anonymous. Survey and experimental

researchers discard the names or addresses of par-

ticipants as soon as possible and refer to partici-

pants by a code number only to protect anonymity.

If a researcher using a mail survey includes a code

on the questionnaire to determine who failed to

respond, the respondent’s anonymity is not being

protected fully. In panel studies, in which the same

individuals are tracked over time, anonymity is not

possible. Likewise, historical researchers use specific

names in historical or documentary research. They

may do so if the original information was from pub-

lic sources; if the sources were not publicly avail-

able, they must obtain written permission from the

owner of the documents to use specific names.

It is difficult to protect research participant

anonymity. In one study about a fictitious town,

“Springdale,” in Small Town in Mass Society

(Vidich and Bensman, 1968), it was easy to iden-

tify the town and specific individuals in it. Town res-

idents became upset about how the researchers

portrayed them and staged a parade mocking the

researchers. In the famous Middletown study of

Muncie, Indiana, people recognized their town.

A researcher who protects the identities of individ-

uals with fictitious information, however, creates

a gap between what was studied and what is

reported to others. This raises questions about what

a researcher found and what he or she made up.

Confidentiality. Even if anonymity is not possible,
we should protect confidentiality. Anonymity pro-
tects the identity of specific individuals from being
known. Confidentialitymeans that we may attach
names to information, but we hold it in confidence
or keep it secret from the public. We never release
the information in a way that permits linking
specific individuals to it. We present results pub-
licly only in an aggregate form (e.g., percentages,
means).
We can provide anonymity without confi-
dentiality, or vice versa, although the two usually
go together. Anonymity without confidentiality

happens if we make details about a specific indi-

vidual public but withhold the individual’s name

and certain details that would make it possible to

identify the individual. Confidentiality without

anonymity happens if we do not release individual

data public but privately link individual names to

data on specific individuals.

Researchers have undertaken elaborate proce-

dures to protect the identity of participants from

public disclosure: eliciting anonymous responses,

using a third-party list custodian who holds the key

to coded lists, or using the random-response tech-

nique. Past abuses suggest that such measures may

be necessary. Diener and Crandall (1978:70)

reported that during the 1950s, the U.S. State

Department and the FBI requested research records

on individuals who had been involved in the

famous Kinsey sex study. The Kinsey Sex Institute

refused to comply with the government and threat-

ened to destroy all records rather than release any

of them. Eventually, the government agencies

backed down. The moral and ethical duty of

researchers obligated them to destroy the records to

protect confidentiality.

Confidentiality may protect participants from

physical harm. For example, I met a researcher who

had studied the inner workings of the secret police

in a nondemocratic society. Had he released the

names of informants, they would have faced cer-

tain death or imprisonment. To protect the research

participants, he wrote all notes in code and kept all

records secretly locked away. Although he resided

in the United States, he received physical threats

by the foreign government and discovered attempts

to burglarize his office. In other situations, some

principles may take precedence over protecting

confidentiality.

Confidentiality The ethical protection for those who

are studied by holding research data in confidence or

keeping them secret from the public; not releasing

information in a way that permits linking specific indi-

viduals to specific responses; researchers do this by

presenting data only in an aggregate form (e.g., per-

centages, means).