Online Privacy Policy

This research is being carried out by Progressive, an independent market research agency based in Edinburgh. Here at Progressive we respect your privacy and take this very seriously in all the work we carry out. This Privacy Policy outlines the measures taken by Progressive to ensure that your privacy is maintained and that any details you provide us whilst undertaking a survey are kept secure and confidential.

We operate to the strict Code of Conduct set down by the Market Research Society and are bound by the Data Protection Act 1998.

Should you require further details about this policy, or any other aspect of this research, please visit our website here.

Please read this Privacy policy carefully as if you use the Progressive website, or participate in one of our online surveys, you will be assumed to have read and agreed to its contents.

· At all times, identities of individual respondents and any data collected from or about them will be treated as confidential and used only for research purposes (data analysis or quality control). The only exception to this is in cases where you, the respondent, express request or permit disclosure of data to a third party for other purposes.

· Our surveys are hosted on our own secure website ensuring that any information you give us is kept private at all times. We also have a stringent and stable security system in place in order to prevent unauthorised access to any data we hold.

· Survey results are reported to the client in aggregate form only. No information allowing a client to ascertain or deduce the identity of any respondent will ever be passed on.

· Where possible, each survey will contain information about the client who has commissioned the research project. This will be presented either on the introduction page for the survey or, where there is good reason – e.g. to prevent bias – revealed during the course of the survey.

· We will not mislead respondents about the nature, purpose or scope of a survey, nor in any other way within our control.

· Co-operation with us on any survey is entirely voluntary at all times. We seek no personal information from or about any respondent without their prior knowledge and agreement.

· You, the respondent, are entitled to withdraw from the research at any time. You are entitled to ask at any stage of the research, or subsequently, that part or all of the record of the research be destroyed or deleted.

· Occasionally, we may seek to use ‘cookies’ in order to ensure that one person does not complete a survey more than once. If we do so this will be clearly stated in the introduction to the survey and the opportunity will be given to refuse the storage of, or access to, that information.

· Any interviews conducted with children will be done so in accordance with any applicable legislation. In all cases the permission of a parent or responsible adult is required before an interview is carried out.

· It is our policy not to send unsolicited emails as a result of participation in a survey, nor to pass on email addresses to any third party for this purpose. From time to time we will collect email addresses for inclusion in our online panel but we will always ensure your consent before doing so.