Censuses, Surveys and Privacy

This book is about the impact of one social, political and moral issue — privacy — upon contemporary social science. As social inquiry extends its scope, questions about the legitimacy of its inquiries and the rights of the individual citizen to be left alone are posed with increasing sharpness. Is it justifiable to ask members of the public questions in censuses and surveys about sensitive and private topics such as income or sexual behaviour? Is it justifiable to allow social scientists access to medical records in hospitals or doctors’ surgeries in order to advance science? Should different sets of records be linked together for purposes of statistical analysis, even though the individual citizens who originally provided the information believed that it would be treated as confidential? What legal safeguards are there to prevent the release or legal seizure of social-research data collected under promises of confidentiality?