In relation to research, privilege and privacy are connected to ethical considerations in the research process. In social or behavioral research, privacy is related to the handling of information obtained from participants. Demographic or personal information must be handled in a manner that does not allow the participant to be subjected to a leak of the information that could tie the information to the person.
An attorney-client relationship is a good example of privileged privacy. The information spoken to the attorney, once he agrees to accept a case, is privileged information. The information is intended to remain private between the attorney and the client, thereby establishing the privileged privacy relationship of trust between the two parties.
In research, the information that is shared explicitly with a researcher is the privilege and may not be revealed without the participant’s consent. Sometimes a participant may share information with the researcher that he or she does not want included in a study.