Abstract
While anonymity is a widely-held goal in research-ethics review policies, it is a virtually unachievable goal in ethnographic and qualitative research. This paper explores how anonymity is undermined in the data-gathering, analysis, and publication stages in ethnography. It also examines problems associated with maintaining a collective identity. What maintains anonymity, however, are the natural accretions of daily life, the underuse of data, and the remoteness of place and time between the gathering-data stage and the eventual publications of findings.
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van den Hoonaard, W.C. Is Anonymity an Artifact in Ethnographic Research?. Journal of Academic Ethics 1, 141–151 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JAET.0000006919.58804.4c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JAET.0000006919.58804.4c