## What is personal data?

‘Personal data’ refers to any information related to an identified or identifiable natural person.

This means personal data is any information on a living person. This information can be objective or subjective. This information can differentiate one individual from another and says something about them.

In general, if you are using data collected/ about people, it is always best to assume it is personal data.

Personal data can be objective or subjective:

#### Subjective personal data

In this example case, Caspar thinks Lily is sociable and engaging. This data reveals something about both Caspar (his opinion) and Lily (that she is sociable and involved, according to Caspar).

#### Objective personal data

An example of objective information: Caspar is 1.70 m tall.

Personal data is quiet a general term and describes more data types than what we may initially think, it does not only consist of information which can be linked directly to an individual but also includes information which can be used as a puzzle piece to re-identify someone.

Directly identifiable personal data includes information such as name, address, photographs/video recordings of faces, for which little to no effort and no additional information are required to determine to whom the data belong. These types of data are what we most commonly relate to as personal data. However it is important to be aware that personal data can also be indirectly identifiable.

Indirectly identifiable data require more effort as well as additional information to determine to whom the data belongs to. Indirectly identifiable personal data include genetic information, data that are unique to an individual, datasets with extreme or unusual values (e.g. extreme physical measurements unique to elite athletes, highly unique employment history) or any other characteristics about a person (e.g. ethnicity, gender, occupation and/or education) that when combined into one record, can single out that person as unique in your dataset. Indirectly identifiable data may not immediately identify an individual, but they do provide the potential for identification of that individual

When collecting any data from participants, it is best practice to minimise the amount of personal data collected. You should think critically about why you need to have specific information of your participants and always strive for miminising the personal data you collect.