OPINION HARVESTER
PRIVACY POLICY
Like all modern companies, FieldMouse Research is very mindful of our duties and responsibilities when storing and processing your personal data. All directors of FieldMouse Research are members of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the Association for Qualitative Research (AQR). All market research carried out by FieldMouse Research is carried out in a manner fully compliant with the MRS Code of Conduct
Our policy will indicate the date it was last updated, but if there is a substantive change in the way that we use your personal information, we will notify you via email of the relevant changes. If you choose to opt out of our changed practice then please email hello@opinionharvester.com.
If you have any questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us by email at hello@opinionharvester.com Please include the word ‘privacy’ in your email subject line.
Why we collect personal data
As a market research company, it is necessary for us to collect personal data. There are two main reasons for this:
• To maintain a database of people interested in participating in paid market research projects so that we can speedily respond to clients’ requests
• To ensure that we will only ever contact you with information about opportunities which are suitable for you. We ensure this by asking for specific personal data which is used as standard in market research for identifying suitable research participants.
Information we collect in order to create your record on our database and contact you when suitable opportunities arise includes your:
• Name
• Postcode
• Region
• Year of birth
• Ethnicity
• Occupation
• Telephone number
• Email address with which we can contact you
We may also use this information for:
• Auditing, research and analysis to operate and improve our technologies and services
• Administration
• Statistical analysis
• Fraud prevention and detection and security vetting
• Customising this website and its content to your particular preferences
• To notify you of any changes to this website or our services which may affect you
Please note that some projects may require us to request further personal details, where they are relevant to the needs of the client’s project. This information will normally only be stored for 6 months from the close of the projet unless otherwise specified.
How we collect personal data
Personal data is collected by FieldMouse Research in three main ways:
• Through the form hosted by Mailchimp and linked from the FieldMouse Research website (https://www.fmresearch.co.uk)
Personal data stored in the FieldMouse Research database of interested participants is held and processed under the legal basis of consent. We use the Mailchimp platform to store the information you supply to us, and may also use Mailchimp to contact you. We will check with you at least once a year that you continue to consent to us storing your data for the purposes outlined above. You may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing hello@fmresearch.co.uk with your request to be removed from the database. Mailchimp's Privacy Policy can be found here: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/
• Through conversation between participants and FieldMouse Research or one of our Field Executives
• Through this community (Opinion Harvester) hosted by Potentia Insight and Forsta
Forsta operates the community and survey questionnaire software, and data collection process that Opinion Harvester is hosted on. The data from the survey will be held by Forsta in a separate database. Only FieldMouse Research and Potentia Insight will receive the data collected by Forsta from the survey. Potentia Insight's full privacy policy can be seen here: Potentia Insight privacy policy and Forsta here: https://legal.forsta.com/legal/privacy-notice/
If additional personal data is requested as part of a specific project, this is also processed under the lawful basis of consent. If you decline to supply this information you will not be considered for participation in the specified project but this will not affect any future offers to you of participation in paid market research.
How we store and process personal data
Personal data is stored in your record in the Opinion Harvester database of interested participants. It is used to assess your suitability for paid market research opportunities offered by FieldMouse Research and Potentia Insight, and is used to contact you in order to make such offers when suitable opportunities arise.
This data is stored in a database accessible only to authorised members of the FieldMouse Research and Potentia Insight team, and in compliance with industry standard best practice in relation to ensuring confidentiality, and are only granted access for data analysis and quality control purposes. These individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.
FieldMouse Research, Potentia Insight and Forsta have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under their control. These include internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, as well as physical security measures to guard against unauthorised access to systems where we store personal data.
Personal data will be stored for up to 12 months from the date of initial consent, at which point FieldMouse Research will contact you to inform you that we will remove your data. This communication will include instructions on how to renew your consent for a further period of 12 months if you are interested in continuing to receive offers of paid market research opportunities and you wish us to retain your personal data in our database. You can withdraw consent before the 12 months period by contacting us at hello@opinionharvester.com or following the unsubscription process (By clicking on the unsubscribe option once you are logged in, or by using the unsubscribe link found on the bottom of any of our E-mail communication with you.).
All data and responses collected as part of a market research project are passed directly and securely to the client of FieldMouse Research or Potentia Insight who commissioned the project.
In compliance with the Market Research Society code of conduct, the data provided to the organisation commissioning the research does not contain personal data which could be used to identify participants.
We process personal information on our servers in both the United Kingdom and the EU. Personal data is not transferred outside the UK and EU without the prior consent of FieldMouse Research or Potentia Insight, which requires the client to fulfil specific obligations to ensure safe transfer of data and protection compliant with all applicable UK data protection legislation.
Participants offered opportunities to take part in paid market research through FieldMouse Research and Potentia Insight may at any time request further details about how their personal data may be used within the project.
In order to administrate rewards for taking part in our research activities, FieldMouse Research and Potentia Insight are working with a third party, Ayda. In order for you to receive your reward, the following information will be shared with Ayda to enable you to create your account and for reward payments to made after completing activities
- Firstname
- Surname
This information is shared for the sole purpose of the reward payment. Details on the process of creating your account, notifications and claiming your reward can be found here, along with Ayda’s Privacy Policy here.
Data collected automatically
Like all modern websites, this community makes use of cookies, IP address, a pseudo-anonymous identifier and other similar devices for quality control and to provide certain functionality. If you wish to disable cookies, it is best to refer to your browser’s help function in the first instance, where you should find information and instructions relevant to the specific browser you are using. Further useful information about cookies can be found here: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/online/cookies/
We do not do any invisible processing of data from your computer. We will only collect and use personal information in accordance with this policy to the extent deemed reasonably necessary to serve our legitimate business purposes, and we will maintain appropriate safeguards to ensure the security, integrity, accuracy and privacy of the information you have provided. In addition, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that third parties to whom we transfer any personal information provide sufficient protection of that information.
Data Protection Compliance
The legal basis for processing your data is to enable FieldMouse Research and Potentia Insight to provide the service as agreed with its clients for legitimate market research purposes.
You have the right under the Data Protection Act 1998 (which incorporates the UK GDPR implementation) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation to access any information held about you. You also have the right to the following:
• Object to processing of your data;
• To port data (if automated data collection);
• To erasure of any personal data made public;
• To restrict processing;
• To rectify data held
We will be happy to respond to any of these requests or any issues you may have. You can make a request by emailing hello@opinionharvester.com or dpo@potentia-insight.co.uk. You can also contact our Data Protection Officers at this email address.
If for any reason, you are concerned that the personal information maintained by FieldMouse Research and Potentia Insight is incorrect please also email this address to review, update or remove information as appropriate.
Please be aware we may need to retain your information on our files to resolve disputes, enforce our user agreement, or for technical and legal requirements and constraints related to the security, integrity and operation of our online surveys.
Complaints
If you have any concerns or questions about how we store and process your data, please contact us on hello@opinionharvester.com
Please include the word ‘privacy’ in your email subject.
If you are unhappy with how we have used your data, you can also complain to the ICO.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
Last Updated: March 2023
