Confidentiality

How it is used

Promised in information sheets and consent forms: 'All data will be treated with strict confidentiality.' Related terms are anonymity (no one can link the data to a person) and pseudonym (an invented name used in reports).

Example sentences

1. To protect confidentiality, all names were replaced with pseudonyms.

2. Participants were assured of confidentiality and told they could withdraw at any time.

Common collocations

• ensure confidentiality
• maintain confidentiality
• strict confidentiality
• confidentiality agreement

Related terms

• informed consentA participant's voluntary agreement to take part in research after being told about its purpose, procedures, risks and their right to withdraw.
• ethics approvalOfficial permission from an ethics committee or review board confirming that a study involving people or animals meets ethical standards before it begins.
• participantA person who takes part in a study, for example by answering a questionnaire, being interviewed or completing an experiment.
• academic integrityThe commitment to honesty, fairness and responsibility in study and research, including citing sources, reporting data truthfully and doing your own work.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• confidentiality · Medicine
• confidentiality · Nursing
• confidentiality · Psychology
• confidentiality · Healthcare Management
• confidentiality · Social Work

More terms: Research Ethics and Integrity

• plagiarism
• anonymity
• conflict of interest
• fabrication
• self-plagiarism
• retraction