3. De-identify as soon as possible

PSEUDO-ANONYMIZATION

In this technique, the personal identifiers for each subject (e.g. name and contact information) are substituted with a unique code (commonly a unique research ID).

The ‘key’ that links each code to a subject’s identifiers is locked away separate from the rest of the data. Any information that is subsequently collected about the subject will be labelled with the unique code.

For example:

‘Ali bin Abu, Hospital number: T12345, DOB: 1 Jan 1940’ → Research ID: A001

GENERALISATION

For example:

• Date of birth can be replaced with age (e.g. DOB 1 Jan 1940 → Age: 79)
• Numbers can be replaced with a band (e.g. Income: RM1000 → Income: Low);
• Names of places or people in an interview transcript can be replaced with a general description about them (e.g. Shop XYZ → a grocery store).