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ProTip: Maintaining the Privacy of Your Research Subjects

By crooky | December 12, 2007

In the intelligence business, we often ask for contact information from the people that we research. In surveys, I quite often ask for a name and an e-mail so that I can do a random draw for a prize. I get very few respondents who refuse to enter their personal information. I also usually give people the option to sign up for a mailing list. About 20-30% of respondents opt to join a mailing list. For people taking my surveys, they might not know that I won’t abuse their personal information but they seem to trust me anyhow. A recent report by the New York Public Interest Research Group seems to suggest that online retailers might take your personal information and abuse it. Now, I’m not suggesting that online retailers aren’t using your personal information but as the article suggests, it’s a good idea to read and understand the privacy policy of these retailers.

My own privacy policy reads:

From time to time, Friuch Consulting conducts surveys and other forms of market research. An opt-in mailing list is also under development. Personal information will only be used by authorized staff to fulfill the purpose for which it was originally collected or for a use consistent with that purpose unless you expressly consent otherwise.

This means that we will look at your personal information (eg. What city you live in, how much money you make, etc…) to learn something about the topic we’re studying. The part at the end simply means that unless you give me express permission to pass your information along to someone else (even the client that’s paying for the study), I won’t do it.

Under the Privacy Act, you have a right to hunt me down like a dog if you think that I’ve abused this trust. Other companies will sometimes insert funny little legal clauses in their privacy policy that essentially lets them sell your name, mailing address, phone number and e-mail address to “bulk mailers” (aka Spammers). Telus, for example, misspelled my first name when I set up my account so now I know each and every piece of junk mail that Telus has sold me out to. That’s one of many reasons why I am no longer doing business with Telus. In cases where service providers are more subtle is selling my personal information – I’ll never know.

The point of this article isn’t to generate a laundry list of bad companies that sell your personal information when you submit it to them. These articles are designed for other researchers. The take home message in this case is to safeguard your subjects’ personal information. Ideally, you should destroy any records that could be used to identify them once you’ve done your prize draw. For example, when my survey tool spits out survey results in an Excel sheet, I use the column with name and e-mail to do a random draw for a prize. Once I’ve done that, pulled out the names that are interested in being on a mailing list and then I permanently delete the rest. There’s no reason for me to keep that information.

Similarly, if I collect information on someone for one project, I can’t legally re-use their information for another project because they haven’t expressly given me permission to do so. To make a long story short, don’t abuse the trust of your research subjects. There might be a short-term monetary gain but there could be long-term pain, especially if someone decides to sue.

On the topic of retailers using your personal information - sure, it’s wrong but what are they really going to do with that information? Most likely, you’ll just get more junk mail. I’m not defending them, I’m just asking you to weigh the consequences when shopping online.

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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology for ten years.

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Topics: Research Methodologies |

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