Anonymising ‘migrant names’ in qualitative research
23/04/2021
Since a personal name is sensitive information, it is usually a default practice in social sciences to anonymise participants by assigning them pseudonyms. This is primarily done to protect and guarantee participants’ privacy. This practice is not unproblematic; in most of the cases in my various episodes of field interviewing, many do not mind that their real names are used for research purposes. Some even insist that their research input is acknowledged with their real name. But more importantly, migration researchers tend to create a parallel ‘forenames landscape’ where we as researchers bear responsibility in popularising certain names in the academic imaginary of a ‘migrant’.
In my native tongue, Latvian, vārds refers to both a name and a word. I developed my passion for words in my childhood, reading hungrily and writing eagerly ever since. My first degree is in literature and linguistics, and although I was very much attracted to literature, I chose the most difficult field for my dissertation — a study on historical grammar. And it was the best thing I could have done! I carried out fieldwork in a Latvian-Estonian border region, listening to and registering local stories about place names. The places came alive through people’s diverse stories about how they were named and renamed and in comparisons between what they were called in familial circles and officially. I came to understand these places more deeply through a study of language contacts and grammar; centuries of human movement was revealed through a linguistic lens. And every letter, sound, and diacritic mattered. This is how I came to value every detail found hidden in words and names, such treasures for those who know their value.
This prelude is important because in my later work as a migration scholar using qualitative approaches, I listened to people a lot. I could not help but notice that names matter to people. It was especially clear when I conducted research with children: every sound and letter mattered so deeply.
But I also noticed how carelessly researchers sometimes anonymise research participants; the names of friends, acquaintances, and office mates are often assigned to those whom they interviewed.
Not to mention many researcher’s superficial ways of using pseudonymised forenames, even in institutional research in official settings where people typically use surnames (or both their forename and surname in certain cultures). Is it truthful to the empirical situation? Probably not. Furthermore, when researchers are assigning pseudonyms to their migrant participants, they often quickly choose the most popular names in each culture/ethnicity, which might not be relevant to their participants’ backgrounds. To tackle some of these problems, in my recent research I have proposed some solutions on how to approach pseudonymisation in qualitative studies on migration.
How did I approach anonymisation of ‘migrant names’ in my recent research? For the ethical research purpose, I have carefully anonymised my participant names too; where necessary, I use a selected pseudonym which bears a similar level of grammar construction, commonness or less usual use in countries or origin, diacritics and gender as the real name. Such elements produce multiple choices of pseudonyms that guarantee anonymity but also ensure that linguistic distinctiveness is not lost.
In order to illustrate direct specificity, I re-contacted two of the research participants — a male, Latvian and a female, Irish — and asked for their written permission to allow me to use their real names, which both kindly agreed.
I agree with the ethos that any research should strive to improve people’s lives and not harm cultures and places. Therefore, I feel that a sensible approach of using a real name can be achieved, as long as anonymisation has been kept through removing other details which could make a person recognisable, provided that these arrangements are agreed upon case by case.
In sum, I want to encourage fellow qualitative researchers that it is possible to replace real names with a broad range of pseudonyms. This would require close attention to the morphology and grammar structures of a name: diacritics, syllables, generational widespread use of names or, conversely, the distinctiveness of a participant’s name in a place where migrants come from and where they currently live, reflecting ethnic, religious or other signifiers. Combinations of linguistic elements provide multiple choices to guarantee the anonymity of an individual. But I insist that in migration and identity research in particular, names conceptually matter no less than migrants’ skills, class and other differentiators, which, unlike names, are usually more carefully attended.
Aija Lulle, lecturer in Human geography, Loughborough University, UK. Find out more about my research: aijalulle.net
