{"id":1067,"date":"2026-04-28T19:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/irb\/?page_id=1067"},"modified":"2026-04-29T13:09:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T13:09:53","slug":"mask-identifiable-details","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/irb\/learning-tools\/mask-identifiable-details\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Mask Identifiable Details in Interview Transcripts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are transcribing an interview and you have promised anonymity to the participant, then you need to create a transcript that \u201cmasks\u201d or removes individually-identifiable details.<\/p>\n<p>First, some general transcribing guidelines. At the top of your transcript, provide this info:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Interview participant: [if research study promised confidentiality, use pseudonym]<\/li>\n<li>Interviewed by: [insert name of interviewer] at [general location] on [date]<\/li>\n<li>Transcribed by: [insert name of transcriber] on [date]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the interviewer followed an interview guide, copy and paste relevant sections. Type the participant\u2019s responses verbatim. Use an ellipses (. . .) to reflect a pause in the speaker\u2019s words. Use brackets to add any notes for readers, such as [unclear] for unintelligible words, or your best guess if unsure about the exact word or spelling, such as [Frog Hollow?], or descriptions to add context to spoken words, such as [signaled \u201czero\u201d with fingers and laughed]. Here\u2019s a sample transcript excerpt:<\/p>\n<p><em>P: I remember everything that happened that day. . . it began with [unclear].<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If the participant was promised confidentiality, then the transcript must MASK personal details that MIGHT reveal the person\u2019s identity to others. In addition to using a pseudonym, replace names of specific people, groups, or places that could disclose confidentiality to other readers, while avoiding loss of context in the interview. For example, if a participant ORIGINALLY said the following:<\/p>\n<p><em>P: My roommate, Jean, who is the only black student on the lacrosse team, took me to a party at The Hall.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Then you should MASK individually-identifiable details to avoid disclosing the speaker\u2019s identity. Replace names with pseudonyms, and replace specific words with more generic phrases, using [brackets] to show substitutions, like this:<\/p>\n<p><em>P: My roommate [Pat], who is [one of the few students of color on a particular athletic team], took me to a party at [a fraternity house].<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, if a participant spoke a more general sentence, like this:<\/p>\n<p><em>P: Last week I went to a party at The Hall and saw lots of different students there.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Then no details need to be masked, because the sentence does not reveal clues about any individual\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n<p>Judging when to mask details can be complex, so if you are in doubt, ask your faculty research supervisor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are transcribing an interview and you have promised anonymity to the participant, then you need to create a transcript that \u201cmasks\u201d or removes individually-identifiable details. First, some general transcribing guidelines. At the top of your transcript, provide this info: Interview participant: [if research study promised confidentiality, use pseudonym] Interviewed by: [insert name of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"parent":1035,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1067","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.5 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Mask Identifiable Details in Interview Transcripts - Institutional Review Board<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/irb\/learning-tools\/mask-identifiable-details\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Mask Identifiable Details in Interview Transcripts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you are transcribing an interview and you have promised anonymity to the participant, then you need to create a transcript that \u201cmasks\u201d or removes individually-identifiable details. 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