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Maxine Davey

Mrs. Stevens & Mrs. Radcliffe

Life Science

13 January 2017

How Does Anonymity Affect the Answers to Personal and Controversial Questions?

Psychology (n): the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those

affecting behavior in a given context (Merriam). Psychology is one of the most interesting

studies, since its focus is human behavior and the human brain. Psychology covers a wide range

of subjects and questions. However, this psychological study is on anonymity and whether or not

it affects the answers to personal or controversial questions. If a survey is given to an

aggregation of people, then there will be a prominent difference in statistics between questions

answered anonymously vs. non-anonymously.

What Does Anonymity Mean?

Anonymity is a term often used in scientific studies and surveys in which the subject

prefers to remain completely anonymous and unidentified. According to the Merriam-Webster

dictionary, the official definition of anonymous is not named or identified; made or done by

someone unknown(Merriam-Webster). In an anonymous study, personal information cannot be

linked to the participant. The identity of the participant is never revealed, just as whom the

information belongs to will never be revealed. The information and its owner are separated

totally, meaning that the survey or study released will not include the name of the owner

(Anonymity). In an article by the Texas A&M University Division of Marketing &

Communications,When the term anonymous is used, a person gives no personal information

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about himself/herself and should not be asked for specific personal information that would give

his/her identity away(Texas). Anonymous activities are designed so that, under no

circumstances, the owner of the information can never be linked to the participant. Anonymity

can be either the choice of the participant or studier. Most often, however, anonymity is the

request of the participant of the study or survey.

What is the Difference Between Anonymity and Confidentiality?

Anonymity and confidentiality are terms that are often confused. While anonymity is

complete and utter secrecy and identity protection, confidentiality is a situation in which only the

surveyor knows the publisher of the information. In a confidential activity, the person will

provide some personal information to the surveyor/testor (Protecting).This information will not

be released to other people or groups. According to the CUNY Collaborative Programs for

Research and Evaluation, Maintaining confidentiality of information collected from research

participants means that only the investigator(s) or individuals collecting/analyzing data can

identify the responses of individual subjects (Anonymity). Confidential and anonymous studies

are similar, but there are key differences. Therefore, no study can be both confidential and

anonymous. Though they are different, studiers use confidentiality and anonymity for many of

the same purposes.

When was Psychology First Studied?

Wilhelm Wundt is known as the father of modern psychology. He founded the first

psychological establishment: the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of

Leipzig in Germany in 1879. Saul McLeod relayed that Wundt separated psychology from

philosophy by analyzing the workings of the mind in a more structured way (McLeod1).
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Wundt focused on analyzing thoughts and sensations rather than chemical events of the natural

world. Because Wundt was the first scientist to study the human brain, he showed the world that

psychology was a valuable science, instead of only studying the natural world. Wundts main

psychological field was cognitive, which studies and acknowledges the mind as an information

processor (McLeod2). Wundt was the founding father of psychology. Without him, we may not

know all the things we know about the human brain today.

What are Some of the Most Controversial Questions?

In an interview with Dr. Dedre Werner, she explained what she thought were some of the

most controversial, personal, or ethical questions. In her opinion, questions about sexuality and

ethnicity were questions that were likely to differ anonymously vs. non-anonymously. Dr.

Werner also thought questions about past-trauma were very personal (Werner). According to

Ray Mancini, some of the top 10 controversial questions were about drugs, religion, and crime,

and the death penalty (Mancini). The Learning Resource Center listed animal cloning and

physician-assisted suicide as controversial topics. Furthermore, immigration was also named on

their list (Examples). For this experiment, questions were chosen that are thought to produce

different answers anonymously vs. non-anonymously. Among these were questions about

sexuality/gender, alcohol/drugs, abortion, and race.

What is the Best Way to Release a Survey?

There are many different types of surveys, and many different results based on the type of

survey used. According to Zarca Interactive, there are around three ways to get better results

from the test subjects. First, make the survey as short as possible for the subjects convenience.

Next, use a personal tone throughout survey to make it more enjoyable. Finally, do not deceive
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your audience; make sure they know the anonymity/confidentiality policy (Increase). Sarah Mae

Sincero gives a few more tips and tricks to conducting a good survey. She writes that a personal

approach (face to face or through telephone) has good response rates, but the answers are more

likely to be biased. She also says that paper and pencil surveys require the researcher to be

present during survey and handwriting is more personal and less anonymous. Online surveys are

ideal for a large sample size and the best way for anonymity, and mail surveys may require an

incentive and have bad response rates, but anonymity is easily achieved. Last, Sincero urges that

for better response rates, provide an incentive, ensure anonymity/confidentiality, distribute a

professional-looking survey, and keep it short and simple (Sincero).

Have There Been Previous Studies on Anonymity? What Were the Findings?

There have been various studies on anonymity since Wundt first pioneered psychological

studies. University of Houston assistant professor Arthur D. Santana found a relationship

between anonymity and civility in a study in 2014. Santana conducted a study on anonymity by

looking at online blogs and forums following online newspaper stories. The results he found

were astounding. Just 28.7 percent of anonymous comments were found to be civil and 53.3

percent included foul language. [Anonymity] has long been seen as a valuable way to express

an opinion, however unpopular, said Santana. Non-anonymous commenters were 3 times more

likely to post civilized comments. One of the benefits of online anonymity is that it allows

people to express their views, uninhibited, especially if it is an unpopular opinion, Santana said.

When anonymity was removed, civility prevailed. Almost 50 percent of American newspapers

have disallowed anonymity because of the behavior it causes in forums and blogs (Carroll)
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If a survey is given to an aggregation of people, then there will be a prominent difference

in statistics between questions answered anonymously vs. non-anonymously. This experiment

will compare how students answer questions anonymously. This study will not be using

confidentiality; only anonymity. There have been previous studies on anonymity; however, none

have used surveys. This survey will include questions expected to prompt students to have

variegated responses anonymously vs. non-anonymously.

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Works Cited

"Anonymity vs. Confidentiality." SpringerReference (n.d.): n. pag. The City University of New

York. CUNY Collaborative Programs Research and Evaluation, 6 June 2012. Web. 26

Oct. 2016.

Carroll, Melissa. "UH Researcher Finds Anonymity Makes a Difference with Online

Comments." University of Houston. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

<http://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/2014/January/12114Santana.php>.

"Definition of Anonymous." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.

<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anonymous>.

"Examples of Controversial Issues Questions." (n.d.): n. pag. Learning Resource Center. Web.

<http://homework.sdmesa.edu/libinstr/docs/Cotroversial_Issues_Questions.pdf>.

Mancini, Ray. "The 10 Most Controversial Questions Ever Asked." SIG Group, n.d. Web.

<http://www.sig.edu.au/the-10-most-controversial-questions-ever-asked/>.

McLeod, Saul. "Cognitive Psychology." Simply Psychology. Creative Commons, 01 Jan. 2007.

Web. 01 Nov. 2016. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html>.

McLeod, Saul. "Wilhelm Wundt-Father of Psychology." Simply Psychology. Creative Commons,

01 Jan. 2008. Web. 01 Nov. 2016. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/wundt.html>.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.

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<https://www.merriam-webster.com/>.

"Protecting Confidentiality & Anonymity." | Institutional Review Board. Virginia Tech, n.d.

Web. 28 Oct. 2016. <http://www.irb.vt.edu/pages/confidentiality.htm>.

Sincero, Sarah Mae. "How to Conduct a Survey." Explorer.com. N.p., 2 Sept. 2012. Web. 03

Nov. 2016. <https://explorable.com/how-to-conduct-a-survey>.

Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications. "Confidential vs.

Anonymous - What's the Difference?" Education & Human Development- Texas A & M

University. Health & Kinesiology's Office of Digital Learning Technologies, n.d. Web.

28 Oct. 2016. <http://dlt.tamu.edu/Previous/CorA.html>.

Werner, Dedre. "How Does Anonymity Affect the Answers to Personal and Controversial

Questions?" Online interview. 18 Nov. 2016.