Political science research in both qualitative and quantitative traditions frequently uses data that contain personal information about research participants. Personal information can enter the research process in different ways; sometimes researchers collect it directly via a survey or an interview, other times they gather it from an aggregator like a government agency or private company or semi-public sources like social media. In many cases, the personal data that political scientists collect is both personally-identifiable3 and sensitive, meaning that disclosure could expose respondents to severe repercussions like legal sanction (McMurtrie 2014) or retribution from non-state actors (Venkatesh 2008), as well as more diffuse harms like the negative impacts on personal life, employment opportunities, or reputation (Ohm 2010).