I would like to collect data in a school on a survey form where the respondents
enter only a code number to identify themselves. I would like the code number
to be something that the participants will be able to remember for follow-up
data collection in the near future, but I would also like to protect against
identifying the participant even if the forms and coding scheme were disclosed,
so I don't want to use birthdates, names of relatives, or SSNs. I had been
thinking of using some number not generally known to anyone other than the
participant, such as the last digit of their locker number at the school, to
disguise a universal identifier by adding it to each of the last four digits of
the SSN, but that seems rather clumsy. Does anyone have a suggestion for a
good coding scheme? Thanks to all for any recommendations.
=================================================================
Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about
the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at
http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/
=================================================================
