1.3: Privacy in Market Research
Privacy is a concern when it comes to marketing research data. For researchers, privacy is maintaining the data of research participants discretely and holding confidentiality. Many participants are hesitant to provide identifying information for fear of it leaking, being linked back to them personally, or being used to steal their identity. To help respondents overcome these concerns, researchers must identify the research as being either confidential or anonymous.
Confidential data is when respondents share their identifying information with the researcher, but the researcher does not share it beyond that point. In this case, the research may require an identifier to match previous data with the new content—for example, a customer number or membership number. Anonymous data is when a respondent does not provide identifying information at all, so there is no chance of being identified. Researchers should always be careful with personal information, keeping it behind a firewall, behind a password-protected screen, or physically locked away.
One of the most important ethical considerations for marketing researchers is the concept of confidentiality of respondents’ information must be considered. In order to have a rich data set of information, very personal information may be gathered. When a researcher uses that information in an unethical manner, it is a breach of confidentiality. Many research studies start with a statement of how the respondent’s information will be used and how the researcher will maintain confidentiality. Companies may sell personal information, share contact information of the respondents, or tie specific answers to a respondent. These are all breaches of the confidentiality that researchers are held accountable for.
As market researchers, we must prioritize the safety and well-being of human participants, as well as the information gathered throughout the research process, at all times. Using ethical guidelines and protecting respondents’ information is a core component of market research.
Insights Association Code of Standards
The Insights Association’s Code of Standards and Ethics for Market Research and Data Analytics is reviewed annually by IA’s Standards Committee with input from members. This ensures that the Code is up to date with current practices of conducting market research and that it adequately protects research participants. This Code is an excellent example of how market researchers should manage market research projects throughout the process. You can read this Code here.
References
Albrecht, M. G., Green, M., & Hoffman, L. (2023). Principles of Marketing. OpenStax, Rice University. CC BY 4.0
Insights Association. (2023, November 1). Code of standards. Insights Association.
