期刊名称：University of Ottawa Law and Technology Journal
印刷版ISSN：1710-6028
电子版ISSN：1715-006X
出版年度：2006
卷号：3
期号：1
页码：189-203
出版社：University of Ottawa
摘要：Empirical research in the social sciences should help answer a crucial question: how does anonymity influence behaviour? A quick perusal of the literature, however, reveals that the answer provided by this research is far from simple. According to the empirical literature, “anonymity” has broad, varied, and inconsistent behavioural effects. A deeper reading reveals that the complexity of behavioural effects is matched by the complexity and variety in the empirical definitions of “anonymity.” Analysis of empirical manipulations designed to operationalize the concept reveal that they reflect three distinct concepts: 1) identity protection (withholding of name or other unique identifiers); 2) visual anonymity (being unseen by communication partners); and 3) action anonymity (where the content and even existence of actions are unavailable to others). The first of these manipulations closely matches the traditional definition of anonymity, while the second and third relate more to being known (visually or by one’s actions) than to being identified. Thus, in the context of behavioural research, anonymity is defined in two intertwined ways: as lacking unique identifiers and as being hidden from public scrutiny.
