title: A Statistical Approach to Provide Individualized Privacy for Surveys.
abstract: In this paper we propose an instrument for collecting sensitive data that allows for each participant to customize the amount of information that she is comfortable revealing. Current methods adopt a uniform approach where all subjects are afforded the same privacy guarantees; however, privacy is a highly subjective property with intermediate points between total disclosure and non-disclosure: each respondent has a different criterion regarding the sensitivity of a particular topic. The method we propose empowers respondents in this respect while still allowing for the discovery of interesting findings through the application of well-known inferential procedures.
authors.affiliation: Computer Science Department, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Esponda
authors.affiliation: Statistics Department, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Kael
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huerta
authors.affiliation: Statistics Department, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Victor M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Guerrero
mesh_terms: D003219:Confidentiality / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D030881:Disclosure / Q000941:ethics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D018907:Privacy / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
references.citation: J Am Stat Assoc. 1965 Mar;60(309):63-6
references.pmid: 12261830