Privacy information notice
INTRODUCTION
Discovery Research Ltd respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
Please also use the Glossary to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy notice.
1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE
2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU AND HOW WE USE IT
3. CHANGE OF PURPOSE
4. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED
5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
7. DATA SECURITY
8. DATA RETENTION
9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
10. GLOSSARY
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE
1.1 Purpose of this Privacy Notice
This privacy notice aims to give you information on how Discovery collects and processes your personal data. Discovery is a qualitative & quantitative market research consultancy who is commissioned by companies (our clients) to conduct research to support their business needs. This often involves us speaking to members of the public to gather their thoughts and feedback on a specific subject having firstly gained their agreement to participate in the research.
We collate feedback, analyse and interpret what it means for our clients and present them with the findings. Unless we have prior consent from you to share personal information collected or created by the research with our client, this output will be anonymized
1.2 Controller
Discovery Research Ltd is the data controller and or Data Processor. In either case once data is in our possession we are responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as “Discovery”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice).
We have appointed a data protection co-ordinator (DPC) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPC using the details set out below.
1.3 Contact Details
Company name: Discovery Research Ltd
Name or title of DPC: Alan Hathaway
Email address: info@discoveryres.co.uk
Postal address: 25 Gloucester Place London W1U 8HT
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
1.4 Changes to the Privacy Notice and your Duty to Inform us of Changes
This version was last updated in Oct 2024 and can be obtained by contacting us.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
1.5 Third-Party Links
As part of the research process we may include links to third-parties that will help us run research projects. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. We encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU AND HOW WE USE IT
2.1 Our initial contact with you will come in the form of a recruiter who specialises in sourcing participants for market research, we will have provided them with a survey and instructions as to whom we are trying to source for any given project, for example someone who shops at a specific retailer or owns certain types of technology.
2.2 Along with any other requirements recruiters will speak to you about the research and ask you to complete screening questions to ensure that we are speaking to the right people for the project. They will explain and or the screener will confirm what you will be asked to do in the research allowing you the ability to opt into research process if you are happy to do so – this is an important step and if any questions arise please confirm before agreeing to take part.
2.3 This is what we term Informed Consent and it is the corner stone of our data request and handling – we only want to see any data from you once you are happy for it to be shared with us.
2.4 If you have been invited to take part in a research study/survey by Discovery we will only have used your contact details with explicit agreement from the data controller – our commissioning client – who will have conducted all legal checks on data sharing BEFORE they do so with us. This often relates back to your data preferences setup with the client and can only be addressed or changed through direct interaction with them – we will always be transparent with who provided the data to us so that you can act on this if required.
CHANGE OF PURPOSE
3.1 We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
3.2 If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
3.3 Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?
4.1 We use different methods to collect data from and about you
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Direct interactions. You may give us your personal data via a specialist market research recruiter
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As indicated above 2.4 clients may provide data directlt to Discovery if they are legally allowed to for the purposes of conducting/facilitating market research
5.1 We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below:
• Service providers acting as processors based in the United Kingdom who provide IT and system administration services.
• Professional advisers acting as processors or controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the United Kingdom who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
• Regulators and other authorities acting as processors or controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances
5.2 We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
6.1 We will not transfer your personal data out of the EEA, unless we expressly highlight it and have your agreement that we can do so.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
7.1 We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
7.2 We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
DATA SECURITY
8.1 How long will you use my Personal Data for?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
DATA RETENTION
9.1 Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.
• Request access to your personal data.
• Request correction of your personal data.
• Request erasure of your personal data.
• Object to processing of your personal data.
• Request restriction of processing your personal data.
• Request transfer of your personal data.
• Right to withdraw consent.
9.2 If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.
9.3 No Fee Usually Required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
9.4 What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
9.5 Time Limit to Respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one week. Occasionally it may take us longer if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
10.1 Lawful Basis
• Consent means processing your data where we have obtained your freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous permission. You can withdraw your consent at any time and we will then stop processing your information for that purpose.
• Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
• Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
• Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.
10.2 Your Legal Rights
You have the right to:
• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes or if we are processing your personal data for statistical research purposes, unless the processing is necessary in the public interest. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.