The Price of Anonymity

Does anonymity guarantee honesty from those that are granted it? Yes and no, according to Dr. Alex Fradera, who looked into a study done to learn if subjects whose identity has been shielded might take advantage of it:

Thousands of psychology papers are based on data derived from questionnaires that were filled out anonymously. That’s because most psychologists have reasoned that the best way to get people to be honest about their practice of undesirable behaviours is to promise them anonymity. But in a new analysis, Yphtach Lelkes and his colleagues point out that anonymity comes with a price. Participants will feel less accountable and may be less motivated to answer questions accurately.

To test this, Lelkes’ team devised a cunning methodology in which dozens of undergrads conducted internet research for what they thought was a study into the way that people search for information on the web.

After each student had spent 45 minutes researching the mountain pygmy-possum, a researcher made a show of deleting the student’s search history before their eyes, ostensibly to prevent the next participant from accessing the browser’s archives. In fact, a spyware programme was installed on the computer and kept track of all the sites visited. After the research session, each student answered a questionnaire about their use of the internet in general and their experience of the internet research task, including which sites they’d searched. Crucially, half the students were instructed to fill out their name and other personal details at the top of the questionnaire; the others were told to leave it blank to ensure anonymity.

Students who answered the questionnaire anonymously admitted to more embarrassing internet behaviours, such as looking at porn, but with regard to their searches during the research task they answered with less accuracy. There was also evidence of a lack of variety in the answers to many of the anonymous students’ later answers, consistent with the idea that they were putting less thought into the questionnaires as they grew tired.

Fradera, A. (2012). The price of anonymity. Psychologist, 25(11), 810-811

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