ABSTRACT
Problem: For a two-year period (called the restriction period), North Carolina phased out anonymous testing for HIV in 82 of 100 counties. In these 82 counties, testing became confidential but not anonymous. (In anonymous testing, no link exists between a person's name and the test results.) This was viewed by the state as a trial to determine whether testing rates would decline as a result of making the tests confidential instead of anonymous. The researchers' problem was to examine testing rates in the two types of counties and interpret them relative to the restriction on anonymous testing.
