Social Research Centre

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Frequently asked questions

For other questions relating to a specific study, please visit the relevant project page on our website. All Research Projects.

Why is it important that I participate?

Whilst participation is always voluntary, it is important that you participate to ensure representativeness and that the results can be projected to the population.

How did you get my number?

Our staff may have contacted you as part of a research survey. We are a social research company, exempt from the Australian Do Not Call Register. This means that we may call telephone numbers listed on the Do Not Call Register to conduct opinion polling and standard questionnaire-based research.
We are not telemarketers, we are not selling a product and we do not provide your name or contact information to any other parties.
The phone numbers we dial are either:
 
• Randomly generated by computer, using known telephone exchange prefixes
• Randomly selected from available telephone directories
• Provided to us by our clients.
 
Some of our studies are ongoing meaning the same people take part in a number of surveys at different times. We collect and securely store contact details of study respondents for this purpose. In compliance with privacy laws, the details provided are only used to recontact study participants for the study they agreed to take part in.

What happens to the information I provide?

The information you provide is used for research-only purposes. The information you provide is merged with that of other survey participants to form an aggregated view of perceptions, opinions and issues. This helps to inform the decision-making process of our clients.

Why do you collect personal information about me?

We collect information such as age and household composition as these are used to “categorise” survey participants for analysis and interpretation of the information collected.
 
We are not concerned with the identity of the person who provided the data but are looking for patterns across population groups (defined by age, gender, household type, etc).

Will I be re-contacted as a result of participating in a survey?

Your participation in the survey does not automatically entail further contact unless you choose to opt in for follow-up communication. We respect your preferences and ensure that your engagement level is entirely up to you.

We would only contact you again if:

  • One of our supervisors calls to confirm the authenticity of the survey by re-asking a couple of questions (that is, the supervisor checks that the interviewer did their job properly).
  • Where you explicitly give your permission to be re-contacted for follow-up research or future survey.

Do my details go on to a database as a result of participating in one of your surveys?

We only contact people for research purposes.
 
The information we collect from you will never be used to contact you for a telemarketing type call, a follow up sales call, nor a call for donations.
 
Upon participating in our survey, your details are securely stored in our database for research purposes only. Your privacy is of the utmost importance, and your information will never be shared or used for any other purposes without your explicit consent.

Why don’t you leave a voice message?

Sometimes we don’t leave a message when we call to protect your privacy. If the survey contains sensitive questions about personal issues, we prefer to speak with you rather than leave a message that anyone in your household could hear.

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