The challenges of conducting anonymous longitudinal online research

1
The challenges of conducting anonymous
longitudinal online research

• E. Lisa Price, Ph.D. Department of Psychology
• Darcy Benoit, Ph.D. Jodrey School of Computer
  Science

2
Background

• Dating violence research
• Logistical problems
• Internet longitudinal research
• Relatively inexpensive
• Avoids logistical problems
• Privacy
• Can track individuals if they move
• Can reach large numbers of people
• Problems

3
Tri-council policy statement Ethical conduct for
research involving humans

• Information that is disclosed in the context of
  a professional or research relationship must be
  held confidential.
• The values underlying the respect and protection
  of privacy and confidentiality are not absolute,
  however. Compelling and specifically identified
  public interests, for example, the protection of
  health, life and safety, may justify infringement
  of privacy and confidentiality. Laws compelling
  mandatory reporting of child abuse, sexually
  transmitted diseases or intent to murder are
  grounded on such reasoning

4
Research that may require anonymity

• Child maltreatment/neglect research
• AIDS/STI research
• Any research involving illegal and reportable
  behaviour

5
Examples of what is done presently in
longitudinal research on abusive behaviour

• Daniel OLearys research
• LongSCAN research
• David Wolfes research
• Christchurch research
• Ideally, the method allows for complete anonymity
  and no-fail tracking

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Our workPossibilities and potential problems

• One-way encryption
• Children/adolescents have difficulty remembering
  passwords
• Drop down menus
• Limited possible passwords
• Dictionary attacks
• Hot memory research
• What constitutes a hot memory?
• Fingerprint identification
• Limited use