Conducting an anonymous survey

Understanding the concept of anonymity

An anonymous survey is one that does not allow a person to be identified, either directly or indirectly.


A survey is considered to be anonymous if the analysis of the responses obtained does not make it possible to identify a person concerned by the processing of personal data. However, it is sometimes possible to identify a person indirectly by combining a number of elements. For example, it is very likely that cross-referencing age, gender and department of assignment will identify an individual, especially within a limited panel.

The anonymous nature of the survey will be reinforced if

 

  • The panel of potential respondents is sufficiently large: the smaller the panel, the greater the risk of identification;
  • Variables relating to socio-demographic data are collected in sufficiently broad categories: age groups rather than date of birth (or age); occupational group rather than job title; region or type of municipality rather than address;
  • The number of free-field questions is limited to what is strictly necessary to achieve the survey objectives.

Adopting the right reflexes

1. Concerning the survey distribution method

To recruit participants for your survey, individual solicitations should be avoided. Other channels are preferable, such as certain professional social networks, mailing lists, posters or any other channel defined in accordance with the establishment's communication strategy (communication@univ-ille.fr).

2. Information for participants

Before accessing the questions themselves, participants must be informed of the purpose of the survey, the time required to complete the form, the existence of a contact email address, and the optional and anonymous nature of the survey (sample information sheets are available on request from dpo@univ-lille.fr).

The special case of surveys aimed at learners

If the survey concerns students or learners (current or former), a survey engineering procedure has been put in place by the Observatory of the Training Department, which can assist you, depending on the case: https://odif.univ-lille.fr/acces-reserve-aux-personnels-ulille/ingenierie-denquete

The special case of the use of free fields

It is very common for a survey to offer respondents a free text zone to complete the "closed" answers on the form. In this case, to prevent the respondent from being identified, you should add a sentence such as: "Please be careful: some of the information you provide may make it possible to identify you indirectly and therefore to make the questionnaire anonymous".

3. Tools to be used

[Translate to English:] logo outil LimeSurvey

The university's Limesurvey survey server is a tool for creating a questionnaire that respects the rules of anonymity. It offers the necessary guarantees to ensure the security of your survey data:

  • Access to the survey is protected by a username and password (the same as those used by the university's other digital services);
  • LimeSurvey allows you to administer a survey without associating a respondent's information (IP number, date and time of connection) with the answers they give to the survey. To do this, you need to edit the "Questionnaire participation settings", tick "YES" for the "Anonymised answers" function and save.

4. Concerning the end of the survey

Once the survey has been completed and the response file exported to a secure medium (shared space with access rights; encrypted hard disk), the responses and the survey must be deleted from the server. The file can then be processed and archived in accordance with the rules in force.

Still in doubt? Contact the DPO department

It can be difficult to assess whether a survey is anonymous. If you have any doubts, please do not hesitate to contact the personal data protection team using the contact form: https://www.univ-lille.fr/contact-dpo/

Request an online survey

To open a survey, you must fill in the form: Request to open a survey For similar functions and guarantees, you may use the tools available on the https://framaforms.org website.

taken from leaflet No. 7 of the guides on personal data