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Qualitative Health Research
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Confidentiality and Autonomy: The Challenge(s) of Offering Research Participants a Choice of Disclosing Their Identity

James Giordano

Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Michelle O'Reilly

Helen Taylor

Nisha Dogra

Leicester University, Leicester, United Kingdom

In this article, the authors present one of the key ethical features of research: confidentiality as maintained by nondis-closure of participants' identities. In light of (a) the contingency that certain participants might vest interest in research studies through their identity and (b) the concept of respect for participants' autonomy, the authors consider the possibilities of offering research participants the choice of nonconfidentiality, afforded as an autonomous (negative) right of refusal of nondisclosure of identity. They address the issue that this possibility generates within the context(s) of current codes of ethics related to health research and the manifest responsibilities of the institutional review process. In this way, they attempt to elucidate potential benefits and consequences that arise from confidentiality and nonconfidentiality.

Key Words: confidentiality • consent • ethics • qualitative research • choice and autonomy

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 17, No. 2, 264-275 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732306297884
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