Regulations & Guidelines: How We Can Help

At Leftfield, our role is to facilitate the smooth running of your project. A key part of this is our ability to help ensure your research adheres to all relevant industry and legal guidelines. Over the years we have worked with our specialist lawyers to ensure that we’re across all relevant legislation. We conduct an annual legal audit and are in regular touch with the Market Research Society to ensure we work to the standards required as Members.  

Industry regulations cover a range of different areas, particularly in relation to data protection, safeguarding of participants, and best practice within qualitative data collection, but here are a few key things to consider.

Confidentiality and Data Rights: Respecting the confidentiality and anonymisation of participant responses is an important part of the MRS Code of Conduct. We limit the personally identifiable information we collect to what is strictly necessary, and anonymise data as appropriate. Our bespoke ‘Participant Information Form’ has been drafted with our lawyers and covers both consent and confidentiality, outlines data privacy regulations and includes a non-disclosure agreement.

Data Security: It goes without saying that it is crucial to ensure the correct data security protocols are followed when processing participant information. We continuously review our systems and procedures to ensure we’re meeting all relevant standards, and have recently been awarded ISO 27001 accreditation, the leading international standard for information security, in addition to our ISO 20252 certification.

Consent: We often get asked about what “consent” we have in place with participants. In reality, consent is only one of six legal bases for processing data, and it may not be the most appropriate for you. Understanding where consent is needed, and how best to collect it when it is, is vital when setting up your project. 

Sensitive Topics and Special Category Data: There can be very different considerations depending on the nature of the participants you are speaking to, or what you’re speaking to them about. Research with children or young people, for example, or collecting sensitive personal data, requires additional precautions to ensure you stay on the right side of the legislation.

International Regulations: When it comes to International research, being aware of and adhering to all relevant regulations can be a challenge. Working with our global partners, we can help: whether it’s working to GDPR in Europe; the equivalent legislation in other regions; or nation-specific legislation governing what types of data can be collected.

Elite recruitment carries additional checks particularly around government employees or those in state funded organisations, we can help you negotiate this

Navigating the regulatory complexities of qualitative research can be daunting. However, with the right partner, you can confidently execute your research project, ensuring full compliance and giving you one less thing to worry about.