Consent Templates

Consent templates for research involving human subjects can be viewed here

Confidential vs. Anonymous 

Confidential and anonymous are often used interchangeably while having very different definitions.  Understanding the difference between these two terms  is important when considering research involving human subjects. 

When data are anonymous, it is impossible to know whether or not an individual participated. When anonymous, there is no way to determine the connection between research subject and the data associated with them.  If a research subject is told that they will remain anonymous, they cannot be asked for any personal information that could be used to link the data to them. IP addresses are considered to be identifiers which makes it impossible to have anonymous data collection when conducting research online such as surveys. 

When there is a connection between the research subject and the data they provide to researchers (name, email address, phone number, etc) that data is considered to be “identifiable.”(IP addresses are considered to be identifiers and, unless researchers can ensure that they will not be collected, research involving data collection via internet cannot be considered to be anonymous.) Methods employed to limit who will have access to this connection help keep it “confidential.”  The extent of the confidentiality measures is directly related to the level of risk associated with the data collection.  

©