COVID-19 & VCSE Organisation Responses: Panel Survey – Information and consent

Thank you for agreeing to take part in our panel survey. In order to proceed, please ensure that you have read and understood the information below before completing and submitting the panel survey form

 

About the project.

We are inviting you to take part in a research study exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the VCSE sector as we are interested in the way that COVID-19 has impacted on the way VCSE organisations operate, people management impacts (paid staff and volunteers) and the possibilities for innovation and transformation as a result of COVID-19. In particular, this project focuses on providing real-time data about how the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting voluntary organisations working-practices and operations, their responses, learning, and resilience.

Who is Involved?

This project is carried out in a collaborative effort with Nottingham Trent University, the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, Sheffield Hallam University, and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. All University research is reviewed to ensure that participants are treated appropriately and their rights respected. The ethical approval for this study has been recommended by Nottingham Trent University’s Schools of Business, Law and Social Sciences’ Research Ethics Committee. The study has received favourable ethical opinion from the committee.
Further information can be found at: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/research-environment-and-governance/governance-and-integrity

What does Participation Involve?

You have been approached about this study because you work or volunteer for an organisation within the VCSE sector and we are interested to hear your views on the impact of COVID-19. This survey asks for detailed information about your organisation, its members, and how Covid-19 has affected the way people work and organise. It particularly measures resilience of organisations within the voluntary sector in the face of the pandemic. This survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. It will be delivered via telephone interview in 4 cycles over the next 12 months, at 3-month intervals. While we would prefer that you participate in all four cycles, you can participate in any of the cycles or all of them as you choose. For each survey you complete, you will receive a £20 pound voucher. Your participation will generate important data which will contribute to understanding how COVID-19 has impacted the sector and is not harmful to you or your organisation in any way.

Your Personal Data.

Your privacy and protection of your personal information is very important to us and we are committed to robust compliance with the UK General Data protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. Here we will explain what we do with your personal information, your rights and how we protect them. Participation in this research project is entirely voluntary. All survey responses are completely confidential and any identifying information will be removed so your data is stored anonymously. After completing the survey, you will be assigned a unique code which you have to use for all the cycles to maintain confidentiality. The data will be used by the research team to contribute to the study outcomes. The anonymised information will be publicly available via the UK Data Service and will be published in reports and academic articles and be available to researchers, businesses, governments, charities, and the general public.

At the end of the study, we will retain your contact email only, for the purposes of potentially following up with you regarding the impact that this research has had on your organisation. This contact email will be held separate from any other information held about you or your organisation or any other response you have given in the panel survey.

The data we collect and the purpose

When you take part in this study, we will collect the following information personal information from you:
• First name and Surname
• Telephone Number
• Email Address
• Type of Organisation you work for, including where your organisation is based, the main focus of your organisation and size by income

Our purpose for collecting this information is to enable us to facilitate our research in this study. The lawful basis we rely on for processing your personal data is your consent under Article 6(1)(a) of the UKGDPR.

Following the study, we will keep your contract details in order to contact you regarding the impact this study has had on your organisation. The lawful basis we rely on for processing data with regard to this feedback is Legitimate Interest under Article 6(1)(f) of the UKGDPR – feedback will enable us to better tailor our future research.

You can decide to withdraw from an individual interview or to withdraw from the panel survey after one interview at any time without giving any reasons why. You can also withdraw any information at any time up to 5 days after taking each survey by contacting the [email protected] with the unique code given to you. You do not have to provide any reasons why and you will still be given the £20 if you complete an interview but subsequently withdraw data relating to that interview. The research team will delete your contact details, organisational profile including charity registration numbers and all your responses to the survey. If you wish to withdraw after five days, your contact details/identifiers will be deleted but we will retain the responses as it would have formed part of our analysis and publishable data.

How we will collect your data

We will collect your personal data directly from you when you indicate that you wish to be part of this study.

Who we share your personal data with
Your personal data may be shared with the other collaborators described above.

Do we use any data processors?

Yes -we use data processors to help facilitate the study, with the online surveys being conducted using Qualtrics. We also use Public Perspectives to conduct interviews using call centre technology. Both of these processors will only process your personal data in line with our instructions.

How long will your personal data be kept?

We will only keep your personal data for the duration of the project (December 2021). After this time, we will anonymise the data so that there is no way you can be identified. Anonymised data will then be stored in the UK Data Service.

Your rights

We rely on your consent to process the personal data you provide to us to enable us to facilitate this study. This means you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If at any point you wish to withdraw your consent please contact [email protected] or call 0115 842034.

You also have the additional rights:
• to obtain a copy of your personal data.
• to rectify inaccuracies, and where appropriate, the right to have incomplete data completed.
• to have your personal data erased in limited circumstances (it will not apply where the personal data is needed for the purposes of an overriding public interest).• to restrict the use of your personal data. This is a limited right which will apply in specific circumstances and for a limited period (e.g. where a complaint has been received, until that complaint has been resolved).
• to object to use of your data by us for any direct marketing, and to require us to stop such marketing.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected] or call 0115 842034.

The NTU Data Protection Officer can be contacted at [email protected].

If you believe that your data is not being processed in accordance with data protection law, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office to make a complaint by the following means:
Website: www.ico.org.uk
Telephone helpline: 0303 123 1113

 

Contact Details
Should you require further clarification, you can email the project lead – Professor Daniel King at [email protected] or the research team at [email protected].

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