Survey Information Sheet
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Introduction
Thank you for your interest in taking part in this survey. Before you decide whether or not to participate, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take some time to read the following information carefully and get in touch if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part. Thank you for reading this.
The survey is part of a research project called Living With Data, which aims to understand people’s knowledge, experiences and perceptions of data practices and their perspectives on how data practices could be improved. By ‘data practices’, we mean organisations collecting, analysing and sharing data, the uses to which the outcomes of these processes are put and how all of this is communicated to the public.
We are undertaking this research because the widespread collection and use of digital data is changing people’s lives, positively and negatively, but to ensure that data works for people and society and is a force for good, we need understanding of people’s knowledge, experiences and perceptions of data practices, in particular what they think constitute ‘fair’ practices. Living With Data aims to produce such understanding.
The survey should take no longer than fifteen minutes to complete. It is conducted by the University of Sheffield. It is funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
Taking Part in the Project
Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. You can choose not to answer specific questions without penalty, and you are free to withdraw from the study at any time. Your answers to this survey are completely anonymous. Your responses will be combined with those of other respondents to enable researchers to look at overall patterns. The results of this research will be published in reports and peer-reviewed journal articles that will be publicly available. Because other researchers may find the data we collect on this project to be useful in their future research, we will make the data available in a data archive.
This project has been ethically approved via the University of Sheffield’s Ethics Review Procedure, as administered by the Department of Sociological Studies, where the research is based. The University of Sheffield will act as the Data Controller for this study. This means that the University is responsible for looking after your information and using it properly.
With any online activity, the risk of a data breach is possible. We will minimise this risk by storing data in a password protected electronic format and destroying it after three years. The only people to have access to your data will be Living With Data researchers at the University of Sheffield.
Although you have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, to restrict the use of your personal data, to be forgotten, to data portability, and to withdraw your consent for the use of your data, this will not be possible as the data will have been anonymised. Further information can be found in the University’s Privacy Notice at this link: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/data-protection/privacy/general.
If you have a concern about any aspect of this study, please contact Living With Data project lead Professor Helen Kennedy. If you feel your complaint has not been handled to your satisfaction you can contact the Head of Department of Sociological Studies, Professor Nathan Hughes, who will then escalate the complaint through the appropriate channels. If the complaint relates to how your personal data has been handled, information about how to raise a complaint can be found in the University’s Privacy Notice: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/data-protection/privacy/general.
If you wish to make a report of a concern or incident relating to potential exploitation, abuse or harm resulting from your involvement in this project, please contact the project’s Designated Safeguarding Contact, Helen Kennedy, at livingwithdata@sheffield.ac.uk. If the concern or incident relates to the Designated Safeguarding Contact, or if you feel a report you have made to this Contact has not been handled in a satisfactory way, please contact the Head of Department of Sociological Studies (Nathan Hughes, nathan.hughes@sheffield.ac.uk) and/or the University’s Research Ethics & Integrity Manager (Lindsay Unwin, l.v.unwin@sheffield.ac.uk)
Please return to the survey to confirm you have read this information and that you agree to participate in our research.