Removes or masks identifying information from the REDCap database (`DB`). This can be done either based on the `identifier` field in the metadata or by specifying custom identifiers.
Arguments
- DB
A validated `DB` object containing REDCap project data and settings. Generated using load_DB or setup_DB
- identifiers
Optional character vector of column names that should be excluded from the `DB`. If not provided, fields where `DB$metadata$fields$identifier == "y"` will be used as the default.
- drop_free_text
Logical. If `TRUE`, columns containing free text will also be excluded from the `DB`. Default is `FALSE`.
Details
This function modifies the `DB` object to exclude specified identifiers or any columns flagged as identifiers in the metadata. Free-text fields can also be optionally removed, ensuring the resulting dataset complies with deidentification standards.
See also
save_DB
for saving the modified database.