Table 2.

Terminology preferences of the participants for identifying and nonidentifying information (n=38).

Terminology preferences		Values, n (%)
Subset of information used to link records (ie, identifying information)a
	Identifiers	3 (8)
	Identifying information	16 (43)
	Identifiable information	4 (11)
	Information that can be used to identify individuals	14 (38)
Subset of information that is used to answer the research question (ie, nonidentifying information)b
	Nonidentifiers	2 (5)
	Nonidentifying information	23 (62)
	Nonidentifiable information	5 (14)
	Health-related study data	7 (19)

^aOther terms suggested by participants: private information, personal information, patient data, confidential data, confidential information, information for identifying individuals, and personally identifiable (identifying) information.

^bOther terms suggested by participants: data for health studies, publicly available data, social data, information that does not reveal your identity, anonymous study data, information that does not identify individuals, and information that is used as data.