QuaDS DESCRIPTION

The Qualitative Data Sharing (QuaDS) Software is a tool to help researchers de-identify qualitative data. QuaDS flags potentially identifiable information in texts. In addition to flagging all HIPAA safe harbor identifiers, QuaDS highlights potentially identifying variables that, in combination with other details, might re-identify individuals. QuaDS flags these identifiers for users to review and allows users to customize replacements or ignore terms within the dataset. The software uses a color coding scheme to suggest essential replacements and discretionary replacements for users. The QuaDS Software identifies relevant variables with a precision (or specificity) score of .95 while maintaining a .96 recall (or sensitivity) score. The QuaDS Software tracks the number of replacements or redactions and produces an anonymization log that shows each variable that a user changes. QuaDS easily allows users to upload an identifiable dataset and download a de-identified TXT file, which is appropriate for sharing. QuaDS Software has been tested using over a thousand qualitative research transcripts and patient narratives. Read more about the QuaDS Software in our paper, “Enabling qualitative research data sharing using a natural language processing pipeline for deidentification: Moving beyond HIPAA Safe Harbor identifiers.” The QuaDS Software Works with the Following Variables:

• All HIPAA Safe Harbor (HSH) identifiers such as individual names, social security numbers, phone numbers, and street addresses
• Geographic areas at the state level or larger including country, such as “I was born on the East Coast”.
• Age in years, months, or weeks such as “The baby was four weeks old on Christmas Day” or “It was my thirtieth birthday”.
• Numerical values that are usually safe to leave but deserve review such as “He weighed over 400 pounds” or “She had 11 children.”
• Institution or organization names
• Rare diseases
• Racial and ethnic identities
• LGBTQ+ identities