The ethical issue discussed here concerns confidentiality. In general, confidentiality has two components: anonymity and confidentiality of the data [29]. Anonymity is preserved if no one can identify the participants of an experiment. The ideal protection of anonymity involves not collecting any data that can be used to identify
subjects; not even names. However, in many cases, researchers will be required to collect a signed consent form from the subjects, which will constitute a record of their participation. Beyond that, it is preferable not to collect any personal information. Anonymity also involves severing the subject’s identity from his data set
so that he cannot be identified through an examination of his data set. For example, the subjects’ names should not be linked with their data. To identify individual data sets, subject numbers or aliases can be used instead of subject names. Researchers should also try to ensure their research subjects’ anonymity by not letting any co-workers witness researcher subject interactions.