Participant Privacy Policy

Who we are.

Launchpad Research Limited is a market research agency based in the UK. Registered in England & Wales No: 4403337

What personal data will we typically collect?

We will collect personal information about research participants and potential participants for the purpose of market research activities conducted by Launchpad Research or our clients. Participants will typically comprise of survey respondents, product testers, research panellists, telephone and face-to-face interviewees, focus groups attendees, online discussion respondents and online community members. The legal basis for collecting personal data is consent.

When conducting research activities, we may request and collect from you, with your freely given consent, information & data such as:

Contact information [e.g. name, job title, email address and/or telephone number]
Socio-demographic information [e.g. gender, salary and age]
Characteristic information related to the research context [e.g. use of a product, brand or service etc.]
Sensitive personal data [e.g. health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, biometrics etc]
IP address, browser type, screen size and other basic metrics [e.g. from online activities]
Photographs and video footage
Bank details

In order to invite potential participants to take part in research activities, we may also collect contact information that is freely available online. (For example, we may collect contact details of persons in particular job roles within certain types of organisations, so that we can invite them to take part in primary research activities.)

How will your personal data be used?

It is not our aim to sell or promote anything. We collect information and data on a broad range of topics as part of the market research services we provide to our clients. The data is used to assist clients in the development & improvement of products & services and inform market insight. Responses will be treated as confidential unless you consent to being identified.

To fulfil our obligation to provide market research services to our clients, we may use your information:

To invite you to participate in research
To conduct & deliver market research activities, including conducting primary research [e.g. surveys, interviews, in-home visits, and focus groups] and analysis to fulfil our contractual agreement with clients
To support research findings
To confirm the details of research you have agreed to take part in
To remind you of research activities that require completion for projects in which you are actively involved
For quality purposes to validate answers/views you gave in a recent research we conducted (if you have consented to us doing so)
To update our records and ensure your personal information is correct (applicable to those consenting to being part of an ongoing community or panel)
To notify you if you have won a prize draw administrated by Launchpad Research or to provide you with an incentive for taking part in a research study
From time to time, with your consent, we may share personal data with our clients, interviewers and supervisors to fulfil our service and contractual obligation to deliver market research services

Our research invitations & requests

When you are invited to take part in research, it will be because:

You have given permission for a company to supply your details to Launchpad Research for research purposes
You have taken part in previous research administered by Launchpad Research and given permission to be contacted in the future for research purposes
You have been recruited by an Interviewer or Recruiter representing Launchpad Research and freely given your consent to participate in market research
You have freely signed up to Launchpanel.co.uk, LaunchPilot.co.uk or a 3rd party research panel provider and given your consent to be contacted by Launchpad Research for the purpose of market research

We never knowingly invite children under the age of 16 to participate in research studies without taking measures to ensure appropriate consent from a parent or guardian.

Security & personal data

We do not carry out any invisible processing of data from your computer. We will only collect and use personal data 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.

When we can use your personal data

We collect and use your information in the following situations:

Where we believe it is necessary to use your information to comply with a legal obligation
Where we have your consent
Where the use of your information is necessary for us to deliver the market research services to our clients

How long will we keep your information?

We will keep your information for as long as is necessary for us to fulfil the purposes that we describe in this policy. As a general rule however, we will retain the information you provide at recruitment & during the data collection for 3 months after the research has been delivered to our client and/or invoice settled.

Who will we share your information with?

All research data is treated anonymously unless you have given your consent to be identified.

Subject to your consent, we may share your personal information with clients for the purposes listed in ‘how will your personal data be used’. Some of our research projects involve working with 3rd party suppliers such as overseas agencies, panel providers, transcribers, specialist research consultancies or a provider of fieldwork services. In instances where 3rd parties are involved in the delivery of a research project, we may share personal data from the research project you agreed to participate in, as part of the final deliverable.

Subject to obtaining your informed consent, we may video and/or audio-record interviews and focus groups, or request participants to submit blogs or vlogs as part of a research project. In some instances, these may be shared in full or part, with the client to support research insights & findings. The footage may also be used to obtain transcriptions, thereby ensuring we have an accurate record of the discussion for analysis purposes.

The commissioning client agrees not to disclose such findings to third parties other than to (i) associated companies, (ii) retailers and distributors used by the client, (iii) any applicable compliance or regulatory authorities, or (iv) any applicable professional advisers such as advertising agents except with the express prior permission of Launchpad Research.

We may, on occasion, ask at recruitment stage for your specific consent to use video and images supplied by you as part of a research project for marketing purposes. Refusal of ‘marketing purposes’ consent will not restrict you from participating in research projects.

We will, in accordance with the MRS Code of Conduct, share anonymised survey/interview comments with clients, but any written comments provided are not attributable to any individual or organisation.

Transferring your information internationally

Your personal information may be transferred internationally. Sometimes we will need to transfer your information out of the United Kingdom for example to service providers and clients based overseas. Countries to which we transfer information may have different standards to control how your information is used and protected.

We will only ever send personal information outside the EEA if the receiving company protects personal information in the same way as if it were based within the EEA. This means that we will only send personal information to a non-EEA country if:

the UK GDPR has determined that the relevant non-EEA country affords an adequate level of protection for personal information
pursuant to agreement between us and the relevant company based in the non-EEA country which contains data protection clauses adopted or approved by UK GDPR, or
we send data to the US pursuant to the Privacy Shield

Your rights

You have the right to:

Access your personal information that is be held by Launchpad Research
Request that your personal data is rectified, if you believe that the data is incorrect
To be forgotten; and your personal data is deleted and erased
Request that the processing of your personal data is restricted
To withdraw consent, at any time, to the processing of their data

There are no statutory or contractual requirements to provide your personal data.

If you wish to view, amend, or delete your personal information that we hold, or to object to processing or to withdraw consent, then please email dpo@launchpadresearch.com or call 0191 2504550

Launchpad Research is a Market Research Society [MRS] Company Partner and registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office Registration Number: Z2068438, and as such abides by the Data Protection Act 2018, General Data Protection Regulation [UKGDPR] and adheres to the MRS Code of Conduct. Should you wish to, you may contact the Market Research Society [https://mrs.org.uk] to enquire about your rights or make a complaint. You also have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO], the supervisory authority within the UK for data protection.