Confidentiality and Informed Consent: Issues for Consideration in the Preservation of and Provision of Access to Qualitative Data Archives

This paper highlights the main issues concerned with preserving fieldwork "contracts", such as informed consent agreements, as they relate to the conduct of research and the archiving of qualitative data. We pay particular attention to the techniques and efficacy of anonymisation and, outline methods of gate-keeping for access to data. Our discussions are based on seven years experience of Qualidata, the ESRC Qualitative Data Archival Resource Centre in dealing with a wide range of qualitative data, including interviews with public figures, and the raw material arising from some of the most classic empirical studies in the UK.