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QRS is commissioned to conduct in excess of 250,000 interviews either by telephone or face-to-face and 50,000 internet surveys each year for a wide range of clients who are looking to gather the opinions of either the general population or their own customers in particular.

Our interviewers are trained to be professional at all times and are given information to help them deal with any queries that may arise during the course of undertaking our surveys. All of our internet surveys will include information upfront about the survey itself. However, sometimes questions may arise as to why you were contacted, or are thought of after the interview or survey has finished.

Therefore, we have provided below explanations for some of the most common questions asked of us.

1. How will the information I provide by participating in your survey be used?

A. The information you provide to us will only be used for genuine market research. By taking part in our survey your views will be represented to our clients. Our clients comprise both the public sector and private companies, who undertake market research so that they can take your views into account when making important decisions. Your individual responses will be combined with the responses from the other people taking part in the survey. Therefore, the information you provide will not be attributed to you personally.

We take very seriously our responsibilities for the security and confidentiality of the information supplied to us by our clients and those who take part in the research studies we carry out. We take every care to ensure that we comply with our legal, regulatory and ethical obligations, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Market Research Society Code of Conduct.

2. Where did you get my telephone number or email address from?

There are two main ways in which we may have obtained your telephone number or email address:

i: We are often commissioned by companies to conduct surveys on their behalf among their customers. This allows the company to ensure that they get an independent, unbiased approach when seeking the views and opinions of their customers, which in turn helps companies to get an accurate picture of their customers’ views.

When conducting surveys of this nature, we would have been provided with details by the company commissioning the research. Please be assured that we keep all information confidential. We are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 and will never pass your contact details on to anyone else.

ii: For some surveys, clients want their surveys to be nationally or regionally representative of the population. In such cases we will have used Random Digit Dialling, which is where a ‘seed’ number is taken and then the last digit changed to create new numbers. For example, 01992 500340 would be changed to 01992 500341, 500342 etc. Because these numbers are generated randomly, we hold no personal information related to them. Alternatively, we purchase random samples of telephone numbers from specialist market research list brokers that can provide us with contacts for people that are believed to fit a certain criterion, e.g. be a certain age. This is why we do not know if a number is ex-directory and do not exclude them, as we want to call a random selection of numbers to ensure that we speak to a representative sample of the population.

iii: For some internet surveys we use external panels, whereby people have signed up to take part in market research surveys. If this is the case, the email inviting you to take part will have been sent from your panel provider. Your panel provider would only ever supply information to us that we would need for our analysis and none of your personal contact information would have been given out.

3. Why do you call me when I am registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS)?

As a Market Research company conducting genuine research surveys, QRS are exempt from TPS guidelines, as TPS was set up to allow registration by those who do not wish to receive sales and marketing calls. QRS do not sell any products: the purpose of our calls is always market research and at no time will we try to sell anything to you. The answers you provide are completely confidential and only ever passed on to clients in an aggregate form.

4. Why was I asked for my address, phone number or email?

All members of the public who participate in market research remain anonymous unless they give their express permission to be identified. However, we have to be sure that the research has been undertaken correctly. Therefore, we verify a percentage of all the interviews that are completed to ensure that participants are happy with the way in which we are conducting the research; that our interviewers have explained everything properly; and that they have asked the right questions. In this way, we can reassure ourselves and our clients that the data has been collected in a professional manner.

Any other contact would only ever take place if your express permission has been obtained.

We will not use your details for any other purpose and will not pass them on to any third party.

QRS Market Research Ltd, The Stable House, Priory Street, Hertford SG14 1XX

Company No. 2827951