Managing anonymity and confidentiality in social research: the case of visual data in community research

Anonymity and confidentiality of participants are central to ethical research practicein social research. Where possible, researchers aim to assure participants that everyeffort will be made to ensure that the data they provide can not be traced back to themin reports, presentations and other forms of dissemination. The primary methodresearchers use to preserve anonymity and confidentiality is the use of pseudonymsfor participants and also for the location of the research. In addition, other practices,such as changing the reported characteristics of participants (such as gender oroccupation) are also used by some researchers to conceal identities and therebymaintain the confidentiality of the data provided by participants. There are severalissues that such practices raise. One is that it is difficult for researchers to know howfar to take anonymisation of individuals in order for them not to be identifiable, giventhat research findings may be presented to a variety of audiences, including membersof participants’ communities. A second issue is that research participants holddiffering views about the desirability of anonymisation, presenting researchers withdifficult choices between respecting the preferences of those participants who wish tobe identifiable and those who prefer to remain anonymous. A third issue is that ofwhether or not to attempt the anonymisation of the location of the research, whichmay be adjudged more or less practical or impractical (depending on itsdistinctiveness) and more or less desirable (depending on its importance in providingthe social context of the analysis that is being developed). This paper explores theseissues by looking at how they have been handled by researchers in the field ofcommunity sociology (broadly defined) who have used visual data in their reports.This analysis allows the argument to be developed that although the issues themselvesare not new, the ways in which they are handled by researchers are necessarilyevolving in the context of technological change, the growth of research regulation,and shifts in the expectations of research that participants hol