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Tools for preparing qualitative research data

The Qualiservice anonymization tool QualiAnon

QualiAnon is a tool for anonymization or pseudonymization of text data and is provided by Qualiservice free of charge for use. The aim was to develop a tool that technically support the Qualiservice anonymization concept of “flexible Anonymization” in such a way that qualitative data can be processed in compliance with data protection regulations and at the same time preserve as much relevant social science information as possible.

The technical implementation of the first version of QualiAnon was carried out by Qualiservice in cooperation with Prof. Dr Jürgen Pfeffer, Dr Mirco Schönfeld and Wienke Strathern (Chair of Computational Social Science at the Technical University of Munich and the Munich School of Public Policy, PANGAEA). Based on this version, QualiAnon was further developed technically by Dr Tom Nicolai (PANGAEA).

QualiAnon enables data protection-compliant use in research projects and in research data centers. QualiAnon allows a separation of identification markers, original data and edited materials. Following research ethics and data protection considerations, the control over replacements and the documentation lies with the users at all times. Replacements can be specified on a case or study basis. Emerging replacement categories can be shared with others as research output or further developed in related projects. QualiAnon is a semi-automated tool. Replacements are deliberately not made automatically. The tool can work automatically with markings set by the user. We are currently examining options for integrating automated processes that do not restrict the tool's data protection compliance. QualiAnon can mark information and replace it using different levels of abstraction. Standardised lists can be used for this and the replacements can be made on a case- and study-specific basis. QualiAnon documents the replacements and enables exports of varying degrees of sensitivity.

QualiAnon is an open-source software. We provide the software, a manual and the program code via GitHub: https://github.com/pangaea-data-publisher/qualianon.

If you have any questions or problems, please contact us and we will be happy to help you. We also welcome feedback on QualiAnon so that the tool can continue to be developed in a good and meaningful way in the future.

Further information on QualiAnon and the Qualiservice anonymisation concept can be found here:

• IASSIST webinar on ‘De-identification of qualitative data’ - QualiAnon is part of the presentation by Dr Kati Mozygemba and Dr Tom Nicolai (from minute 19:07); the slides and the video can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbKw3LR2rVo,
• Mozygemba, Kati & Betina Hollstein (2023): Anonymisation and pseudonymisation of qualitative text-based research data 3 a handout. Qualiservice Working Papers 5-2023, Bremen, https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/2525
• Nicolai, Tom & Mozygemba, Kati (2023): QualiAnon User Manual, v1.3 Qualiservice Technical Report 2-2023, Bremen, doi: https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/2576
• Presentation of the tool by Dr Tom Nicolai and Dr Kati Mozygemba at the launch 2021. The slides of the event can be found here in German and in English.
• Presentation by Theresa Manderscheid and Dr Kati Mozygemba entitled ‘The Qualiservice anonymisation tool for text data: QualiAnon’, https://zenodo.org/records/8123786

Citation recommendation for the tool: Tom Nicolai, Kati Mozygemba, Susanne Kretzer, Betina Hollstein, Egor Gordeev (2025): QualiAnon - Qualiservice tool for anonymising text data (version 1.5.0). Qualiservice. University of Bremen. Software available at: https://github.com/pangaea-data-publisher/qualianon