If the management of Walmart hired a third party to collect customer data and remove all customer identifiers before sending the data to management, how would the data be described?

The scenario describes data that has had all customer identifiers removed, which means that it cannot be tied back to any individual customer. This makes the data anonymous, as anonymity ensures that there is no way to link the information to a specific person.

In the context of data collection, authenticity and privacy are paramount. Collecting data in an anonymous fashion allows the organization to analyze behavior, preferences, and trends without infringing on individual privacy rights. By hiring a third party to handle the data and process it in such a way that ensures anonymity, Walmart can focus on aggregated insights rather than individual customer details, thus reinforcing the ethical handling of consumer information.

The other options entail concepts that are distinct from anonymity. Confidential data would suggest that the information is restricted to specific individuals and not meant to be shared broadly. Aggregate data refers to data that is compiled into summary statistics, which may or may not maintain anonymity. Stratified data involves dividing data into different subgroups for analysis, which does not pertain directly to the removal of identifiers.