“*Pseudonyms Are Used Throughout”: A Footnote, Unpacked

Abstract

Pseudonyms are often used to de-identify participants and other people, organizations and places mentioned in interviews and other textual data collected for research purposes. While this is commonplace, the rationale for, and limits of, using pseudonyms or other methods to disguise identifying information are seldom explained in empirical works. Following an illustrated outline of pseudonyms, epithets, codenames and other obscurant techniques used in the social sciences and humanities, this paper considers how they variously frame the identities of, and position the relations between, participants and researchers. It suggests ways in which researchers might improve on current practice.

‘How I'm feeling today, I probably won't be feeling tomorrow’. Using I-Poems to explore young people's changing emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic – A qualitative, longitudinal study

“…This was a deliberate decision as we felt doing so allowed data to be de-identified without also being de-personalized ( Saunders et al, 2015 ). Nevertheless, we acknowledge the limitations of doing so, most notably that this can imbue personal, social, and symbolic meanings ( Heaton, 2022 ). Like others, we recommend engaging with research participants in order to discuss their preferences, whilst recognising that this also can present difficulties in how participants frame identity and naming practices ( Allen & Wiles, 2016 ).…”

“…Like others, we recommend engaging with research participants in order to discuss their preferences, whilst recognising that this also can present difficulties in how participants frame identity and naming practices ( Allen & Wiles, 2016 ). Meanwhile, like Heaton (2022) , within future work, we would advocate for the use of non-human name forms (based on animals, colours, flowers or other schemas), though this in itself warrants further methodological exploration. Furthermore, at a broader level, there are accepted tensions between ownership/authorship and anonymity in studies using visual and creative approaches to analysis and dissemination ( Byrne et al, 2015 ).…”

Navigating uncertainty alone: A grounded theory analysis of women’s psycho-social experiences of pregnancy and childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic in London

“…Accuracy of the transcription was checked against the original audio for each participant by a researcher who had not undertaken the interviews (KDB), thus allowing data familiarisation. Participants were assigned a culturally sensitive pseudonym to allow for anonymity, whilst preserving their ethnic identity, as is common practice in qualitative research [40] , [41] .…”

Dialysis Decision Making, Dialysis Experiences, and Illness Perceptions: A Qualitative Study of Pakistani Patients Receiving Maintenance Hemodialysis

“…The audio-recorded data was transcribed for analysis, and finally, patient names were changed to pseudonyms ( Table 2 ). 16 Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research criteria were used to report the study. No repeat interviews were carried out, and no transcripts were returned to the participants for comments or corrections.…”