Latest revision as of 12:51, 14 October 2020

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A Case Study about Anonymization and Secondary Use of Qualitative Data

What is this about?

This case study describes how secondary qualitative data can be used and how the data can be anonymized. One issue arising from anonymisation of qualitative data is losing important contextual information. Ethical, practical and theoretical questions emerge when delving into the issue of anonymization of qualitative data for secondary use. In addition, the study describes some strengths and weaknesses of anonymization policies.

Why is this important?

The four central questions the researchers pose in the study are:

"What are the alternatives to anonymization?"
"What is anonymization, in the context of secondary use of qualitative data?"
"How can researchers best anonymize qualitative data for secondary use?"
"What is enough anonymization?"

For whom is this important?

All stakeholders in researchPhD studentsJunior researchersSupervisorsAdministrators

Other information

When

2005

Where

Canada

Virtues & Values

Good Practices & Misconduct

Research Area

Health sciences

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 {{Resource
 |Resource Type=Cases
-|Title=A Case Study of Secondary Use of Qualitative Data
+|Title=A Case Study about Anonymization and Secondary Use of Qualitative Data
-|Is About=A five-year research project, ''Knowledge Utilization and Policy Implementation'', funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, incorporates the secondary use of qualitative data sets from multiple separate research projects across Canada. The case study provides useful recommendations for dealing with central questions regarding anonymization. It also considers the strengths and weaknesses of  anonymization policies<ref>Thomson, Denise, et al. "Central questions of anonymization: A case study of secondary use of qualitative data." ''Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research''. Vol. 6. No. 1. 2005.</ref>.
+|Is About=This case study describes how secondary qualitative data can be used and how the data can be anonymized. One issue arising from anonymisation of qualitative data is losing important contextual information. Ethical, practical and theoretical questions emerge when delving into the issue of anonymization of qualitative data for secondary use. In addition, the study describes some strengths and weaknesses of  anonymization policies.
-<references />
-|Important Because=As the case study describes, "[a]nonymization—the removal of identifying information from data—is one way of preparing data for secondary use. Close examination shows that the practice is full of methodological, ethical and theoretical tensions. Anonymization can hide important contextual information that is potentially valuable to the researcher."<ref>Thomson, Denise, et al. "Central questions of anonymization: A case study of secondary use of qualitative data." ''Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research''. Vol. 6. No. 1. 2005.</ref>
 <references />
+|Important Because=The four central questions the researchers pose in the study are:
+* "What are the alternatives to anonymization?"
+* "What is anonymization, in the context of secondary use of qualitative data?"
+* "How can researchers best anonymize qualitative data for secondary use?"
+* "What is ''enough'' anonymization?"
 |Important For=All stakeholders in research; PhD students; Junior researchers; Supervisors; Administrators
 }}

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