Carrying out a project without processing personal data

The processing is considered anonymous if it is not possible to identify individuals at any time during the data collection process.

If you are only going to process anonymous information, you do not have to notify us of the project.

What is anonymous data?

Anonymous collected data consists of information that cannot in any way identify individuals, either directly, indirectly or via e-mail/IP address or scrambling key.

Note that de-identified data does not mean the same as anonymous data.

If you have de-identified data, the researcher/data processor/registry owner has a scrambling key with ID to the actual collected data and it cannot be called anonymous.

Possible procedures for not processing personal data

Some possible procedures for not processing personal data in the research project:

• During interviews and observations, record data only in the form of notes (not audio recordings). Make sure that names or personally identifiable background information are not recorded in the collected data.
• Questionnaires are obtained in paper form, without names and indirect identifying information.
• Online questionnaires must use an anonymous solution (including that the respondent's e-mail/IP address is not linked to the questionnaire at any time), and that the questionnaire itself does not contain questions about identifying information.
• NB! Most online questionnaires involve the registration of an e-mail/IP address, and the processing will then have to be notified, even if e.g. the service provider has sole access to this information.
• Registry data (aggregated statistics at group level) can be used without notifying Sikt of the project as long as the data is anonymous. The information must not be traceable to individuals in any way. A broad range of anonymous registry data is available online, including at Statistics Norway (SSB) and at Sikt.