Anonymizing Data from Qualitative Research: Challenges and Solution Strategies

The anonymization of qualitative data in the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences is a key tool for protecting the personal rights of study participants and minimizing potential harm. In everyday practice, however, numerous questions arise: How much anonymization is “enough”? How do you strike the right balance between deleting information and preserving the value of the data for research? And what is the practical approach to anonymization? Are certain software tools suitable, and how can they be used? This half-day workshop is aimed at researchers in the social sciences, humanities, and cultural studies. The focus is on interdisciplinary exchange regarding viable methods of anonymizing qualitative data, as well as open questions or problems for which there are no obvious solutions. The workshop will involve discussing concrete examples from everyday research practice and addressing specific questions on-site with fellow researchers and research data support experts. The language of this workshop is English.

Tuesday, 20 October, 2026, Hauptgebäude / University main building, room 028

Preliminary program (Talk titles subject to change)   09:15    Welcome and opening (Research Data Management Support Team, University of Bern)

09:25    Input 1: Anonymizing highly sensitive data from crisis and conflict zones (Mario Behrens, Swisspeace / University of Basel) 10:10    Input 2: Law, ethics, and tools: a perspective on data anonymization from research data management support (TBD, Research Data Management Support Team, University of Bern)

10:40    Break

10:55    Intro part II 11:00    Use Case 1: Anonymizing court decisions (Dr Jevgeniy Bluwstein, Social Anthropology, University of Bern)                 Presentation, comment from input speakers, Q&A and discussion 11:30    Use Case 2: Transcription, Pseudonymization, and Translation of highly sensitive audio recordings (Dr Tina Büchler, Interdisciplinary Center fort Gender Studies, University of Bern)                 Presentation, comment from input speakers, Q&A and discussion 12:00    Use Case 3: TBD

12:30    Final discussion, outlook 12:45/13:00      end

Registration is free and open until October 13, 12 noon. Please note: Registration is required and binding. If you have registered and cannot attend, please cancel your registration!