Your rights with regard to Proteus Research market research projects

If you have taken part in a Proteus Research market research study, or consented to do so at any stage in the future, and have a query, request or complaint other than those specific cases listed below, please call +44 (0) 7818 098 963 or click this link: alex.bloomfield@proteusresearch.co.uk

 

Right to access your details

If you have been contacted by Proteus Research Ltd (or have reason to believe that we may have your details on our database), then at any time, you have the right to ACCESS any and/or all personal details that we may currently hold.  To do so please click this link to e-mail your request:alex.bloomfield@proteusresearch.co.uk We will send you an acknowledgement of your request (if sent by email) and then endeavour to provide you with the details that you require as early as possible.  

There is a statutory one month limit for doing this but we would always aim to comply sooner.  Alternatively, please call +44 (0) 7818 098 963 to discuss your requirements.

 

Right to amend your details

If you have been contacted by Proteus Research Ltd (or have reason to believe that we may have your details on our database), then at any time, you have the right to AMEND any personal details that we may currently hold, where we have

incorrect or incomplete information about you (for example, if you have agreed to be re-contacted and would prefer us to use an alternative phone number / e-mail address).  To do so please click this link to e-mail your request: alex.bloomfield@proteusresearch.co.uk We will send you an acknowledgement of that request (if sent by email) and then another once your amendments have been made to our database.  There is a statutory one month limit for doing this, but we would always aim to comply sooner.  Alternatively, please call +44 (0) 7818 098 963 to discuss your requirements.

 

Right to have your details deleted (sometimes known as the ‘right to be forgotten’)

If you have been contacted by Proteus Research Ltd (or have reason to believe that we may have your details on our database), then at any time, you have the right to request the DELETION of any personal details that we may currently hold.  

To do so please click this link to e-mail your request: alex.bloomfield@proteusresearch.co.uk We will send you an acknowledgement of your request (if sent by email) and then another once your details have been DELETED from our database.  

There is a statutory one month limit for doing this, but we would always aim to comply sooner.  Alternatively, please call +44 (0) 7818 098 963 to discuss your requirements.

 

Right to restrict processing

If you have taken part in a research project for Proteus Research, you have the right to RESTRICT THE PROCESSING OF YOUR DATA at any time.  The difference between this process and the one described above (Right to have your details deleted) is that under this right, we would still retain your details, but we would not be permitted to process them or include them in the results of our research project.  To do so please click this link to e-mail your request: alex.bloomfield@proteusresearch.co.uk We will send you an acknowledgement of your request (if sent by email) and then another to confirm that we have registered your request to restrict processing.  Alternatively, please call

+44 (0) 7818 098 963 to discuss your requirements.

 

Right to withdraw consent

If you have taken part in a research project for Proteus Research, you have the right to WITHDRAW YOUR CONSENT to participate at any time, either while the research is underway (e.g. during the course of an interview), or subsequent to you

taking part.  Similarly, if you have agreed to take part in a research project at any stage in the future, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.  To do so please click this link to e-mail your request: alex.bloomfield@proteusresearch.co.uk We will send you an acknowledgement of your request (if sent by email) and then another to confirm that we have registered your withdrawal of consent and erased any data that we hold as a result of your participation in a research project.  

We will also assume that you would like us to delete your personal details from our database unless you specify otherwise.  Alternatively, please call +44 (0) 7818 098 963 to discuss your requirements.

 

Right to make a complaint

If, for any reason, you feel that your rights have been unjustly affected as a result of your interaction with Proteus Research Ltd, you have the right to make a complaint to the appropriate body in your country.  

 

In the UK, this is the Information Commissioners Office, which is “The UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals”.  They can be found at:

 

UK

https://ico.org.uk/

 

In the Republic of Ireland, you should contact “The office of the Data Protection Commissioner - Ireland's independent data protection supervisory authority.”

 

Republic of Ireland

https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Home/4.htm

 

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

Who we are

Proteus Research Ltd is a London-based market research company operating since the year 2000.  Our activities are exclusively to do with all aspects of market research.  Our activities are regulated according to the Code of Conduct of the

Market Research Society (www.mrs.org.uk), of which we have been a Company Partner for over 5 years.

 

Why we have contacted you

The nature of our work means that we frequently conduct surveys involving private citizens and employees of companies in order to gather data about behaviour, attitudes and reactions to new product concepts, for example.  We then process this data in order to present results to our clients in response to their initial requests.  Ultimately this can lead to better products or services, or new ones where they did not previously exist, or it may help our clients to keep track of the market in which they operate and identify trends and developments at an early stage.

 

The legal basis by which we process your data

When you consent to participate in one of our surveys, this constitutes the legal basis by which we are allowed to process your data.  We are obliged by law to provide you with certain information deemed necessary for you to make an informed decision as to whether or not to participate at the start of the research process.  Other relevant information may have been provided to you during the course of the research process, at the end, or indeed in the information supplied on this website.  You have the right to withdraw this consent to participate (or to have participated) at any time, including after the survey is complete (see ‘Right to withdraw consent’ above).

 

What we will do with your data and how we safeguard it

Upon completion of the survey, your responses will be aggregated with those of others, in order for us to present results to clients in the form of tables and charts for example.  The raw data may also be supplied to our client, but only in a fully anonymised form.  By extension, this means that if we have conducted a small survey in a certain area and we suspect your responses may be identifiable to our client by their very nature (e.g. you were one of only three people who bought

Product X in the month of June in Town Y and only one of them was female), then we will remove your responses from the dataset (and discard them), unless we are able to obtain from you specific, further consent to supply them to our client.  

The only situations where we would not necessarily follow these protocols are where:

•You have specifically requested that we identify you to our client (e.g. to make a complaint directly to them about their product or service)

•You have supplied an additional and separate consent to be identified and thus associated with your data.  This is most likely to be in the case of longer, in-depth interviews or focus groups which may be audio- or video-recorded (again, only with

your separate consent)

While we do retain your data, including your contact details, for a specific period (see ‘How long we keep your data’ below), once the interviewing process is complete, we hold your contact details separately from your question responses.  We are obliged to do this as we must maintain a record of your consent to take part and in case, for example, you wish to withdraw that consent.

 

Who we will share your data with and what we will not do with your data

We will supply your data either in its raw, anonymised form, or aggregated into data tables etc. (see above) only to the client who has commissioned us to conduct the research.  In those cases referred to above where you wish to be, or have consented to be associated with and identified along with your data, we will do this also, but again, only to the same client.  In all instances, this is the client whose name we will have made you aware of at the beginning of the research process.  

We will not supply any of your data in any form whatsoever to any party that we have not identified to you at the start of the research process, and never without your consent.

As such, for example, no one will attempt to sell you anything as a result of your participation in one of our market research studies.  One of the core principles of genuine market research, as specified in the Code of Conduct of the Market

Research Society is that any interview which is described to you as being for market research can only be for exclusively market research purposes.

 

Your rights with regard to your data

You have many rights with regard to your data.  For a full explanation of each, please see above.

 

How long we keep your data

We will retain your data for a period not exceeding one year subsequent to final confirmation from our client that a given project has been finalised, i.e. the point at which they can confirm that they require nothing further from us.  We retain your

data for a further year after this point, as it is not always possible for the client to tell us definitively when this point may be e.g. if a query arises as a result of further analysis of data.  At the end of this time period, all data that we hold relating to

you will be erased.

We will retain your data for longer than one year after the point stated above, only if we have obtained your specific, separate consent to retain that data in order to contact you, seeking your participation in a new study.