Resero Research is a small, independent research company providing market research and consulting services to the public, private and voluntary sector.  We work with our clients to understand your views, needs and priorities.

Resero Research adheres to the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR).  The Business Proprietor, Rhoslyn Sherman-Davies, is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS), and adheres to the MRS Code of Conduct.  

Depending on the project, Resero Research will get contact details in a number of ways.

Resero Research sometimes gets contact details from its clients, usually where you have had some contact with them and they are seeking feedback on the service provided to you.

Often we will obtain your contact details from a commercial provider. Such providers are bound by data protection legislation to make sure that they have a valid legal basis for passing your information to us for the purposes of research, and to ensure that appropriate privacy information has been made available to you regarding this purpose.

Resero Research also has an obligation to make sure that the data provided to us can be used for these purposes. If you think that your details should not have been passed to us, please inform us by emailing roz@reseroresearch.co.uk so that we can raise the concern with the organisation that provided us with the contact details.

Where your contact details have been provided to us by one of our clients, you will either have agreed to this when you gave them your contact details (consent) or they should have informed you that your information would be passed to Resero Research or to an organisation conducting the research. In the latter case the information provided to Resero Research is done so either under our client’s legitimate interests to conduct the research or where they are a public authority, that it is necessary to share the information in order to conduct the research task in the public interest. Our clients will sometimes give us additional information about you, along with your contact details, but this will only be information needed for conducting or reporting the research. Resero Research will not seek to pass back any information which could identify you without your explicit consent, unless you are otherwise informed during the course of the research.

As part of our service, we may contact you and ask you to complete a questionnaire. This is usually to gather information for one of our customers and the information will be used to improve the services provided directly, or indirectly, to you.

Online questionnaires

If you have been sent an invitation to participate in an online survey, this section provides you with the information about how we will collect and use your responses. We use Snap Surveys for the design and data collection of our online surveys. The surveys are hosted on servers managed by Snap Surveys.  To achieve this we may upload contact information of potential survey respondents in order to invite you to respond and send out reminder emails to you.  This contact information, along with the collected responses are hereby referred to as “Survey Data”.  Resero Research remains the Data Controller of this survey data at all times. 

We may have the need to collect special categories of personal data (e.g. ethnic group, health/disability, sexual orientation, etc.) if it is in the substantial public interest, based on the Equalities Act 2010, to ensure provision of services to all groups and to avoid discrimination.  However, none of this information will be directly attributable to you / your responses.

At the end of the fieldwork, the survey data is downloaded from SnapSurveys servers for processing and analysis.  The Contact databases will be deleted and any personal information collected for the purpose of sending out additional information or prize draws will be processed in accordance with the permissions given by you, the respondent.  This may include sending your personal information back to the client organisation if you have consented to this. 

All survey responses will then be anonymised so that no personally identifiable information is stored within the response data.   

Telephone interviews

Telephone interviews are sometimes recorded for reference, training and quality purposes.  On occasion, a more senior member of staff may monitor calls in order to give interviewers feedback on their performance. It is in Resero Research’s legitimate interests to make these recordings and use them to maintain high standards of quality, and to be able to check that the information collected is as accurate as possible. It is also beneficial for those completing interviews if, for whatever reason, they need to hear what was said during the interview. Unless informed otherwise, these recordings are kept for 1 year after completion of the research project.

Face-to-face interviews

The data from face-to-face interviews are stored on the tablets the interviewers carry before being uploaded onto Snap Surveys servers. The tablets themselves and the connection for transferring the data to the server are encrypted (stored in an unreadable form and password protected) to ensure the security of your data. Once a batch of interviewing is completed and transfer to the server is confirmed, the data is no longer stored on the tablet.

Where Resero Research’s client has a statutory obligation to conduct a consultation before making decisions about services provided on a statutory basis, the legal basis for processing data collected through the open consultation questionnaire is that it is a task in the public interest necessary to comply with the relevant public sector law (e.g. the National Health Service Act 2006, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016, Housing Act 1985, Housing Act 2004) and the need to collect special categories of personal data (e.g. ethnic group, health/disability, sexual orientation, etc.) is therefore in the substantial public interest, based on the Equalities Act 2010, to ensure provision of services to all groups and to avoid discrimination. Although these legal bases do not legally give you the right to withdraw your consent, we would normally still honour any request to have your response removed from the consultation before the information is reported as long as we have a means to identify your response in the data.

Collection and processing of information gathered through research tasks undertaken alongside the open consultation questionnaire will be based on consent (and explicit consent for any special categories of personal data).

Where you have agreed to take part in further research your data will be stored securely until completion of the project. After this time it may be transferred to our client or passed to another carefully selected research provider. Your information will only be used to conduct research projects, for example in the form of survey questionnaires, qualitative in-depth interviews or discussion groups (e.g. focus groups, workshops and forums) and will never be shared for sales or marketing purposes.

Where we have collected your address for research purposes, this may be shared with a commercial printer to allow bulk printing of forms or letters. All data shared in this way is controlled by contract and data will be deleted by the contractor once the operation is complete and will not be used for any other purpose.

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Mailing Preference Service (MPS) are services that exist for individuals to prevent their details from being used for direct marketing. As Resero Research conducts research and does not market goods or services, the obligation to use these suppression lists does not apply.

If you do not wish to participate in a particular study you may use the opt out at the bottom of the invitation email and you will receive no further invitations to that study. 

Resero Research applies ‘Privacy by Default’. This means that you will not be identified to anyone outside of  Resero Research’s project team, unless during the research we have asked you for, and you have granted, explicit consent to be identified in any data sent to our client(s) and/or published results. Only internal working files will have information which could identify you from those files alone, and this information will be removed at the earliest opportunity if not required later (this is termed pseudonymisation).

If you are asked for and give your consent to being identified, then you will only be identified to the people, or organisations, that you have been informed about and given your consent to, and never to anyone else. We are very careful when reporting information and typically published reports contain only aggregate/combined data. Where certain subgroups of respondents are small and are likely to allow identification, the result will not be presented.

Who else might my data be shared with?

Resero Research will never give personal information collected for research to any other third parties that are not mentioned either in this document or at the point of data collection without explaining the purpose and obtaining your explicit consent. The only exception to this is where Resero Research has significant concern for someone’s wellbeing or that an unreported crime has been committed. In these instances, Resero Research may report its concerns to the appropriate authorities, as permitted by data protection legislation. 

Where will my data be stored?

Resero Research’s IT is all in-house and our offices are based in the UK.  Survey Data is collected and stored on Snap Surveys servers which are accredited to  ISO 27001:2013 standard.  Generally, our clients are based in the UK so Resero Research does not transfer data collected from our research to anywhere outside the UK. 

How long will my data be kept?

Resero Research will typically retain information that would identify you for one year beyond completion of the project (this is the default retention period recommended by ISO 20252:2012 - Market, Opinion and Social Research). This is in case Resero Research needs to go back to it for some reason (e.g. to validate results or undertake further analysis for a client). If the research that you’ve participated in has a different retention period, then you will have been informed of this in the questionnaire or during the research.

Whilst we are working on a project, we will usually remove any information that could directly identify you from the datasets, but you could still be identifiable to Resero Research from the original raw data. After the specified retention period, we remove your personal details completely, and it should then be impossible to identify you by any reasonable means; your anonymous responses will then be kept for research purposes only.

The surveys, consultations and other research that we conduct on behalf of our clients allow you to give your feedback on services or to have your say on public policy. There is no obligation to take part and there are no negative consequences to refusing to participate or choosing not to answer any, or all, of the questions, other than the fact that your feedback will not inform our client’s research.

Will my data be kept securely?

Any data held on portable devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablets, laptops, USB sticks, etc.) is password protected. Any new systems or software that we develop are designed with privacy in mind.

Will my data be disposed of securely?

All information on paper/hard copy (e.g. paper questionnaires, written notes from focus groups, etc.) is destroyed at Resero Research premises.  Hardware and devices which have had personal data stored on them are also destroyed using an appropriate and secure method.

The right to withdraw consent

Where you have given consent to us processing your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you would like to do so, please contact either the project staff, whose details you have been given, by email to roz@reseroresearch.co.uk or by phone or letter to the contact details at the top of this page.

The right to be informed

You have the right to be informed about the purpose for which your personal data are being processed; the categories of data being processed; the (categories of) recipients of your data; the likely period that your data will be stored or the decision process for eventually deleting it; and the existence and details of any automated decision making. This is made available to you through the information in this Privacy Notice as well as the information which has been given to you alongside or within the research material, interview or group activity.

The right of access (also known as Subject Access Requests (SARs))

As well as being informed of the above, you have the right to a copy of your data which is held by Resero Research. In order to search for the correct information, Resero Research may need to ask you for certain pieces of information in order to make adequate searches, as well as confirmation of your identity. The best way to make such a request is to send an email to roz@reseroresearch.co.uk.   Where one of Resero Research’s clients has received a SAR, we will also give them every assistance in complying with any requests that they get.

The right to rectification

If you think that the information which Resero Research holds might be inaccurate then you have the right to have this corrected. However, it should be noted that data held for statistical purposes represent a point in time and therefore Resero Research is under no obligation to change anything which was correct at the time of collection. Where Resero Research’s clients are subject to this right, we will give them every assistance in complying with any requests that they get.

The right to erasure/to be forgotten

You have the right to withdraw your consent to Resero Research processing your data, in circumstances where consent is relied on. Resero Research will usually agree to such a request, however, where data is used for statistical purposes, we will usually have the right to continue processing your responses and only remove the information that makes you identifiable. The application of this will be judged on circumstances. Where Resero Research’s clients are subject to this right, we will give them every assistance in complying with any requests that they get.

The right to object

Where processing of your data is based on the legitimate interests of Resero Research or its clients, you have the right to object based on your particular situation. Processing may be restricted (see below) while the balance of whose interests are overriding is decided. Where Resero Research’s clients are subject to this right, we will give them every assistance in complying with any requests that they get.

The right to restrict processing

Your right to restrict processing applies where the accuracy of personal data is in question; where processing is deemed to be unlawful but you do not want your data erased; where Resero Research no longer needs the data but you need it kept for legal claims; or where you have challenged the balance of Resero Research and/or its clients legitimate interests in processing vs. your own interests (see above). Obviously the application of this right must be judged on a case by case basis. Where our clients are subject to this right, Resero Research will give them every assistance in complying with any requests that they get.

The right to data portability

Where the processing of your data is based on consent and is conducted electronically, you have the right to request that a copy of your data is made available. Where Resero Research’s clients are subject to this right, we will give them every assistance in complying with any requests that they get.

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

In general, Resero Research does not conduct any activities to which this right would apply. Where our clients are subject to this right, we will give them every assistance in complying with any requests that they get.

Resero Research takes data protection very seriously and does its upmost to comply with legislation and best practice. If you think that your data has been mishandled by us, please contact us with your concerns at roz@reseroresearch.co.uk. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, which for the UK is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).