RESEARCH OPINIONS PRIVACY NOTICE

WHO WE ARE AND HOW TO CONTACT US

Research Opinions process your personal data for our legitimate business interest in sourcing participants to take part in market research studies. We process your personal data in accordance with UK and EU Data Protection laws and have in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard your data.

This  privacy notice outlines how we collect, process and protect your personal data, and your rights with regards to your data.

You can contact Research Opinions in the following ways:

By phone – 0161 242 5210

By email – dataprotection@researchopinions.co.uk

(PLEASE NOTE: When emailing the data protection address please provide a full name and email address in the body of the email for verification if wishing to exercise your rights)

By post – Research Opinions, Bank House 147 Buxton Road, Stockport, SK2 6EQ

Via our website – www.researchopinions.co.uk/contact-us/

Via social media – www.facebook.com/researchopinions   or  www.twitter.com/researchopinion

Research Opinions Limited is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO regulates data protection and privacy matters in the UK. Their website www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/  has information for consumers.

Research Opinions is a company partner of the Market Research Society (MRS) and work strictly in accordance with their Code of Conduct. The MRS website is www.mrs.org.uk

Research Opinions are ISO20252 and Fair Data accredited www.fairdata.org.uk

HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL DATA

Research Opinions collect personal data using the following methods:

• Through paper forms you have completed;
• Via our website researchopinions.co.uk including when you register for an account or sign up for marketing communications from us;
• Through emails and text messages you send to us, or that we send to you;
• During our conversations with you, whether in person or on the phone. We record our telephone conversations with you;
• Through your use of community forums in which we participate;
• Via messages you send to us directly through social media;
• Using information about you from other organisations where you have given consent for them to share information they have about you with us or, with organisations like us, and where other organisations can lawfully share information on you with us;
• Information collected independently by online advertising networks (Google for example) through which we place advertisements.

WHAT PERSONAL DATA IS COLLECTED

We may collect the following personal data:

• Personal data when you register through our website e.g. your name, postcode, occupation, age and gender. This helps us to send you details about market research projects we feel are relevant to you;
• ‘Sensitive’ personal data. Due to the nature of some market research projects we may need to process ‘sensitive’ personal data about you. By this we mean personal data such as your racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or beliefs of a similar nature, your physical or mental health, trade union membership or sexual life. We would always tell you the reason for asking these questions before we asked them. Your participation is always optional;
• Other personal data that we require to fulfil the quotas for some market research projects e.g. whether you have children;
• Usernames and any other unique identification numberswe issue to you or that you use to access our website researchopinions.co.uk
• Information on what you view, click on and accessthrough our websites. This information may also include where you came to our site from, and where you went when you left it. We also track how often you visit and use our websites. We do this via website cookies (our cookie policy is below);
• Technical information about the devices you useto access our websites. We collect each device’s unique identifying codes (MAC address or IMEI number) device model, device name, operating system and version, web browser and version and geographic location. We may collect IP addresses.
• The time, date, location and topic of any market research you carry out.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We use the personal data we collect about you for our legitimate interests which include some or all of the following:

• To send you links to invite you to carry out market research for third parties if you have signed up through researchopinions.co.uk or have completed a screening survey on a similar topic in the last 24 months;
• To put you forward to participate in market research you wish to take part in that is conducted by third parties – where this the case you will be provided with additional details by phone and/or email before any data transfer;
• To provide you with our website – this requires a certain amount of technical information to work efficiently;
• To make sure you get the incentives you’re promised;
• To make a contract with you;
• To help us run competitions and offers;
• To contact you from time to time regarding things you’ve told us you want to hear about – such as new surveys, focus groups, special offers and exciting competitions;
• To reply to and deal with any questions, suggestions, issues, complaints or disputes you or our clients have contacted us about. We may share your data, including our recorded telephone conversations, with our clients to respond to a dispute or complaint that you or they raise about how we carried out the market research on their behalf;
• To respond to any social media posts or other public comments you might make, whether they are directly to us or about us, our websites, services or other activities;
• To protect you and our business from any potentially criminal behaviour, including fraud;
• To power our security measures and services so you can safely access our website. It also lets us do things such as recognise your username and password, as well as reset them if you happen to forget what they are;
• For internal monitoring and training purposes to check and improve the way we handle our communications with you;
• For recruitment purposes if you have applied for a position with us including to contact you to discuss a role with us and to assess your suitability;
• If you have taken part in market research we will retain your personal data to verify that any future attendance either does not exceed levels which are considered industry best practice;
• To tell youabout any changes to our services and website. For example, if we change our terms and conditions or this privacy notice;
• To help us maintain administrative and statutory recordsabout our business so we can better understand who we’ve recruited and pay our taxes.

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

We recruit individuals to participate in market research on behalf of third parties. We therefore can’t run our business or provide many of the services and incentives you receive from us without sharing your information with other people and organisations from time to time.

Your information may be shared with:

• Our client Acumen Field Limited
• Third party companies who have commissioned market research through Acumen Field Limited that you take part in. Your name, contact details and your responses to market research surveys, interviews, focus groups, and online communities may be shared.
• Rewards companieswhich you have signed up to in order for you to receive the incentives we may offer if you complete market research with us. (We may share your name and email address. They may keep this information);
• Any new business partnerswe may have over time, for example, in the event of a joint venture, reorganisation, business merger or sale that affects us;
• Our professional advisorsincluding our lawyers and technology consultants when they need it to give us their professional advice;
• Emergency services or local authorities where there is reason to believe a safeguarding issue exists;
• The police, local authorities, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the courts and any other government authority if they ask us to do so (but only if it is lawful);
• Other people who make a ‘subject access request’, where we are allowed to provide your personal data by law.

SOCIAL MEDIA, BLOGS AND REVIEWS

Any social media posts or comments you send to us (on our Facebook page, for instance) will be shared under the terms of the relevant social media platform (e.g. Facebook or Twitter) on which they’re written and could be made public. Other people, not us, control these platforms. We’re not responsible for this kind of sharing. So before you make any such remarks or observations, you should review the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the social media platforms you use. That way you’ll understand how they will use your information, what information relating to you they will place in the public domain and how you can stop them from doing so if you’re unhappy about it.

It’s worth remembering too that any blog, review, or other posts or comments you make about us, our products and services on any of our blogs, reviews or user community services will be shared with all other members of that service and the public at large.

You should take extra care to ensure that any comments you make on these service are not offensive, insulting or defamatory. Ultimately, you are responsible for ensuring that any comments you make comply with any relevant policy on acceptable use of those services.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF YOUR INFORMATION

Although we’re based in the UK we recruit participants on behalf of clients around the world, and also recruit participants outside of the UK. If you take part in market research for a client who is not located within the UK or an EU country which provides adequate data protection in line with UK GDPR (an “adequate country”) we will ask your consent before any personal data is transferred.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

• If you register through our database we will keep the personal data you share until you tell us not to.
• When you complete a survey for us to apply for a research project, we will retain your responses for upto 24 months to match you with other similar projects.
• When we collect any other personal data for a specific market research projects, or you take part in a market research project and you aren’t registered on our database, you will be told what the retention and deletion policy on personal data is for that project.

YOUR RIGHTS

You have various rights about the processing of your personal data:

• The right to be informed. You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data. We do this through this privacy notice. If there is a requirement for any additional data protection information we will advise you of this when we speak to you;
• The right of access. You have the right to access your data and any supplementary information. If you have registered through the website researchopinions.co.uk you can log in, view or amend the data that you have disclosed to us at any time. You can request details of the personal data we have about you by submitting a subject access request in writing to dataprotection@researchopinions.co.uk Certain exemptions and conditions apply to this right;
• The right to rectification. If you think that any data we hold about you is incorrect you can request either verbally or in writing for it to be rectified;
• The right to be forgotten. You have the right to have your personal data erased if the personal data is no longer necessary for the purpose which it was originally collected or processed for. If you originally gave consent for your data to be held you can withdraw consent. We reserve the right not to comply with any enquiries or requests we receive about the information we collect, where we may lawfully do so. For example, if we have reason to believe that a request is malicious, technically impossible, involves disproportionate effort or could be harmful to others;
• The right to object. You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data;
• The right to restrict processing. You can request the restriction or suppression of your personal data under certain circumstances.

More information on your data protection rights can be found on the ICO website www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/

If you have any worries or complaints about the way we use your information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’ll do our very best to set your mind at rest or if anything is wrong to put things right. And if, for whatever reason, you feel we’re not meeting the exceptionally high standards we expect of ourselves, you’re within your rights to tell the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

USING THIS WEBSITE

Every user who visits this site does so at their own risk. We offer no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the information on this site and assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions in the contents of the site. Additionally we cannot be held responsible for the presence or absence of computer viruses or other bugs which third parties may embed in or attach to this Site without our knowledge or consent. No parties, including Research Opinions, who are involved in the creation, production or delivery of this site, or whose materials or information appear in this site assumes or accepts any liability for any costs, losses, damages arising out of the user’s access to our site or with the unavailability or failure of performance of this site for any reason.

This website contains links to other websites you may find useful. Once you leave this website we have no control over the content or security of other websites.

UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

We will need to update this notice from time to time as our business changes. Please look out for the flags on our websites and materials which indicate we have changed this notice. If you continue to provide us with information or use our services after we’ve changed our notice, we’ll take it that you accept the changes.

COOKIE POLICY

Cookies are a small text file that is placed on your computer, tablet or mobile phone when you access our website. They are not harmful to your devices and allow you to use many of the useful features of our website.

Cookies have a lifetime. Some only last until you close your browser or a short time. These are called ‘session cookies’. Some last longer though, for example, to enable a website to recognise you when you return to them. These are called ‘persistent cookies’.

Cookies placed directly by a website owner (like us) are known as ‘first party cookies’ and most modern websites also use technology provided by other people/businesses, for example to provide online advertising. Cookies placed by other parties are known as ‘third party cookies’.

In the list below we set out what cookies we typically use on our website and why and how they are used. The list isn’t exhaustive but illustrates why we would set a cookie.

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

These cookies are essential to enable you to move around our website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website.

Research_location_search

When you use our search functionality to find research being carried out near to you, this cookie is used to remember the location you searched.

This is a first party, persistent cookie that will expire in 30 days.

_cfduid

This cookie is used to override any security restrictions based on the IP address you are accessing our website from. For example, if you are in a coffee shop where there are infected machines, but your machine is known and trusted, then the cookie can override the security setting.

This is a third party cookie.

PHPSESSID

This keeps track of your session when using the website and can keep you logged-in between pages.

This is a first party, session cookie.

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

These cookies collect information about how you use our website, for example which pages you go to most often and if you get an error message. These cookies are used to improve how our website works.

_utma  -utmz _ga  _gat

These cookies enable Google Analytics software to work which helps us to take and analyse visitor information such as browser usage (e.g. how long you spend on our website, when you start and finish, the amount of times you visit, when your previous visit was, what searched engine you used, what link you clicked on or keyword you used). This information enables us to produce reports to help us improve our website, your experience and to make our marketing activity more relevant. Please note, the data stored by these cookies can only be seen by us and Google.

The _gat cookie limits the collection of data if the traffic is high on our website.

These are persistent first party cookies.

MANAGING COOKIES

By continuing to use our website you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To manage all cookies placed on your computer, mobile phone or tablet device through your web browser settings, please consult your browser’s guide or visit www.allaboutcookies.org   or www.aboutcookies.org   for more information. Some browsers are more sophisticated than others in managing these technologies, so if you want greater controls, it would be worth comparing a few of them. To manage cookies on your mobile phone please refer to your user manual.

If you are particularly concerned about third party cookies, you can often opt-out directly (such as Google Analytics, please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout ). Note, these providers may use cookies to power their opt-out service, so if you change your browser settings to block all cookies, their opt-out service may cease to work and you may still receive adverts.

Our website is designed to use cookies, so if you choose not to allow cookies you may not be able to access all of the features we provide (particularly if you are using a public computer), your browsing experience may become less personal to you and contain more error messages.

PRIVACY NOTICE – REVISED SEPTEMBER 2023