Confidentiality

It is customary to identify confidentiality as a property of information that is obtained on an identifiable individual or an entity. In education research, the information may take the form of a written hard document or digitized record, a video or audio recording, or an oral report on an observation from the researcher’s memory. A confidentiality assurance to an individual or an entity entails a promise that, to the extent possible, the information on identifiable individuals or entities will not be disclosed outside the research context in which it is generated and for which it is used. Such an assurance is common in many social research sectors, including education. This entry further defines confidentiality and discusses how it relates to public information, private information, and ...