A number of my clients have expressed concerns about their data management systems under Trump. Namely, they are nervous that collecting data on participants’ gender and sexual identity may serve as a list of people to target. I see this as a long shot, however, I think that ethical data management is vital especially in an uncertain and increasingly quasi-holocaust environment. May you be finding peace and joy in places you can.
Do you have any recommendations on how to safely store data so as to not out participants should an organization be subpoenaed or otherwise? They have also expressed concerns about this for undocumented students. A few recommendations I have suggested are:
- Keep a separate survey on participant demographics that does not include their names
- Use participant identifier codes (i.e. KJ78) to track survey responses over time
What else can you think of? Do you think these are warranted fears we should be accounting for?