We respect the privacy of our online users, and we undertake not to mislead you in any way about the nature of the research we are conducting, the way in which the data is collected and the use that will be made of the survey results. On most occasions, we will identify the company that we are conducting the survey for at the start of the process. However, if doing this will affect the results of the survey, we may inform you at the end of the survey.
NWA Research is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), therefore you can be assured that all of the answers that you give us will be treated in the strictest confidence. We may ask you for personal information that enables you to be identified – e.g. your name, address, e-mail address or telephone number. This may be in order to inform the winner of a prize draw, or to contact you regarding follow-up surveys. However, when we do ask for this information, we will always clearly state why we are asking for it and for your permission to use the information for that purpose.
On the rare occasions that we ask for your permission to pass your data, or your contact details, on in a form which allows you to be personally identified, we will ensure that the information is used only for the purposes stated. We will not send you junk mail or pass on your details to others for this purpose.
We regularly ask respondents for their postcode as part of our surveys. We use this information to allow us to compare responses from area to area, highlighting potential ‘problem hot-spots’, which may not have become apparent without considering the data at a geographical level. We do not use this information to identify, or attempt to identify, individual respondents.
On occasion we may also ask you to enter a unique identification number to gain access to the online questionnaire. This unique identification number allows us to register that a questionnaire has been returned from your household on a separate data file, so we do not send a second or reminder questionnaire to your address.
- Unless you have given your expressed consent to become a member of a Citizens’ Panel, this information is only used for the purposes of recording the fact that a questionnaire has been received from a given address, and your name and address details remain separate from, and cannot be associated with, the responses given to the survey.
- If you have given your consent to become a member of a Citizens’ Panel, this unique identification number will allow us to attach previous collected data to your current survey responses, so we do not have to continually ask you the same demographic details, such as your postcode, age and gender.
As with all forms of social and market research, your participation is voluntary. You are entitled to ask that part, or all, of the record of your involvement in the survey be deleted or destroyed. If you would like us to remove your details from our records please email our Quality Manager, David Wilburn, at david.wilburn@nwaresearch.co.uk
We try to ensure that we do not interview children, unless we have sought and received the permission of a parent or guardian. Unless this has been done, by participating in this survey you indicate that you are aged over sixteen. Face to face research with children is only undertaken by senior staff who have had an enhanced CRB check done.
We also collect information through the use of ‘cookies‘. These are used as sparingly as possible, to prevent us asking for your participation twice in one survey. It is possible for you to delete ‘cookies’ or to prevent their use by adjusting the browser settings on your computer.
Our internal computer systems have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information you have given us.
If you have any questions about this survey, you can contact NWA Research by phone (free-phone 0800 316 3630), by post (NWA Research, PO Box 309, Stockton-on-Tees, TS20 1XP), or via our website at www.nwaresearch.co.uk. NWA Research is a member of the Market Research Society and we stringently follow their code of conduct in all that we do.
How does NWA Research use cookies?
We use a cookie placed on your computer to recognise you as a previous visitor to our website. This will also let us know if you’re already a customer and, if you choose, means that we don’t have to prompt you to log in again every time.
We include some resources from other providers on our website. As such they will be able to see some information about you.
For analysis of our website traffic, we use Google Analytics. You can find their privacy policy here. Google will place a cookie on your computer for this purpose. We use their IP anonymization feature to remove personally identifiable information from the data they hold.
What about my data rights?
You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information and the opportunity to choose how it is used.
You can:
- Obtain copies of the personal information we hold about you (known as a “subject access request”)
- Request that we correct or update any personal information held about you
- Ask that we erase or restrict the way in which we use your information
- Request that personal information you have given your consent for me to use is provided in an electronic format so it can be transferred to another data controller (also known as “data portability”)
Note that we are separately required to keep financial records for up to 7 years so any financial data on your account will be retained even after your information has been erased. We may also keep a record of whose details has been removed from active use for our records.
You may opt out of receiving further communications from us in any medium at any time. All requests to unsubscribe are dealt with promptly, and in all cases within a month.
If you wish to exercise your rights in respect of your personal data or have any concerns about how your data is used, please contact our Data Protection Officer:
- by phone – free-phone 0800 316 3630
- by post – NWA Research, PO Box 309, Stockton-on-Tees, TS20 1XP
- by our website at nwaresearch.co.uk.
Alternatively you have right to raise any issues or concerns directly with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
NB: This privacy statement covers only NWA Research’s website and online surveys hosted on that website. From time to time our surveys may include links to or from other websites. These other sites may have their own privacy policy, but they are not covered by this statement