ABSTRACT Anonymity has sparked the interests of scholars studying a broad and diverse range of communication phenomena. The collective body of research that has accumulated, however, remains fragmented and largely disconnected. We synthesize existing attempts to theorize anonymity, focusing on how it has been conceptualized within the field of communication. We consider the perspectives, dimensions, and tensions that mark conceptualizations of anonymous communication in empirical research. We then evaluate how different conceptual approaches to anonymous communication have enabled and constrained existing scholarship using research on anonymity in the subfields of journalism, health communication, and organizational communication as exemplars. We conclude by sketching paths forward for researchers studying anonymous communication.

中文翻译：

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匿名传播理论中的（断开）联系：探索传播研究中匿名的概念化

摘要 匿名性激发了研究广泛而多样的传播现象的学者的兴趣。然而，积累起来的集体研究仍然是支离破碎的，而且在很大程度上是脱节的。我们综合了对匿名性进行理论化的现有尝试，重点关注它是如何在通信领域内被概念化的。我们考虑了在实证研究中标志着匿名交流概念化的观点、维度和张力。然后，我们以新闻、健康传播和组织传播等子领域的匿名研究为例，评估匿名传播的不同概念方法如何启用和限制现有的学术研究。最后，我们为研究匿名通信的研究人员勾勒出前进的道路。