Consequences of using Alias logins only

Using "alias" access for participants allows an activity to be run anonymously, since there is no way to connect a participant's result with a particular individual outside of the session (or even within the session if the participant chooses an alias which does not point to them explicitally).

There are several significant disadvantages to using Alias logins, however.

If participants can use an "Alias" login to access an activity, the individual result produced from those participants can not be linked to any other data outside of the activity (for example, it cannot contribute to a longitudinal view of those participants' results).

Also, if (during the session) these participants exit the activity by closing their browsers, and then later re-enter the activity, they will be recongised as different participants (even if they use the same alias to identify themselves).  If this occurs frequently it will distort participation data and results.  It can also be manipulated by participants as a means to disproportionately affect the output from the session, as one person could emulate the inputs of several different people by using multiple aliases.

For these reasons, it is generally recommended that ID should be enabled as a login method, AND at the very least, an "ID or alias" login method is set as institution-wide default, and that facilitators use ID only as a preferred login method where ID is supported by the institution.  See Institution Settings: Participant Login Methods

Otherwise, Facilitators and Institution managers should consider Xorro-Q's easy participant-self-enrollment, in which participants create an "ID on the fly" and enroll into a group along the way, typically using an email.   See  Self-Enrolling Participants and Self-Enrolling Participants to a Fee-Paying Group

 

Categories: Xorro-Q, Admin / IT, Facilitators.