1. What we do

Tapestry Research is a Market Research Agency; we help our clients to understand what matters to their customers and society in general.  This often involves us conducting studies on our clients’ behalf with their customers, prospective customers and the wider general public to improve their understanding of what people like, dislike, are satisfied with or want in the future.

 

We conduct surveys and interviews using a variety of methodologies including by telephone, face to face, and online.

 

Tapestry Research is a trading name of Tapestry (Partners) Ltd, a company incorporated in England with Company Number 8455919 and whose registered office is at 1-2 St Johns Path, Farringdon, London, EC1M 4DD.

 

2. About this Privacy Notice

At Tapestry Research we are committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in our business activities in the UK and overseas.  As such, your privacy is important to us, and we ask that you read this Privacy Notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

 

The practices covered include what information is gathered, with whom the information is shared, how long it is retained and where it is stored.

 

This Privacy Notice was last updated on October 25th, 2024.

 

3. What is personal data

Under Data Protection laws of the United Kingdom, the term “personal data” means any information relating to a person who can be directly or indirectly identified by that data on its own or in combination with other data.  This includes identifiers such as name, address, email address, identification number, location data or online identifiers (such as device identifiers, cookie IDs or IP address).

 

If an individual cannot be identified from the data held then that data is not classified as personal data.

 

4. Why do we want to contact you?

As a market research agency, Tapestry Research is commissioned to conduct research by a very wide range of organisations, including charities and commercial businesses.  A common need for all these organisations is ascertaining what their customers, potential customers or the general public think so that they can move their organisations forward and ensure they are able to provide an improved service. If you have been contacted to take part in a study by Tapestry Research (or a third-party on Tapestry Research’s request), it is because they would like your views and opinions.

 

5. If you do not want to part in research studies

We do not want to disturb you or ask you to take part in studies if you do not wish to do so.  If you would no longer like to be contacted to take part in research studies undertaken by Tapestry Research, please contact us by emailing DPO@tapestryresearch.com or calling us and we will add you to our non-contact list (and if we received your details from our client, we will inform our client that you do not want to participate in research for them in the future).

 

We will require some information from you such as your name, phone number, address, or email address in order to carry out your request.

 

Tapestry Research does not sell or market any products on our clients’ behalf. The reason we get in touch with you as a respondent is always for research. The answers respondents provide are completely confidential and only ever passed on to our clients in an aggregate or anonymised form unless explicit consent has been obtained from you in the study to share personal data with a client.

 

6. Information we collect

We collect personal information when you take part in studies we conduct on behalf of our clients. In these situations, we may collect information that can identify you such as your name, job title, company name, your address, your email address and your telephone number, as well as your responses to the survey which may include your views on our client’s products and services and their competitors, demographic, financial and behavioural data.

 

We have no intention of collecting personal data from young people. If we become aware that personal data from a child under 16 has been collected without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian, we will use all reasonable efforts to delete such information.

 

7. How we use your information

We will only use your personal data for the reasons specified in this Privacy Notice, unless you have specifically consented to, or opted in to, any other use of your personal data.

 

The personal data we collect may be used for the following purposes:

·         to invite you to take part in and manage research surveys and other market research activities;

·         to share with agents, contractors or partners of Tapestry Research in connection with services that these individuals or entities perform for, or with, our company. These agents, contractors or partners are restricted from using personal data in any way other than to provide services for Tapestry Research. We may, for example, provide personal data to agents, contractors or partners for hosting our databases, recruiting participants to take part in studies, interviewing respondents, or for data processing services; however, these parties cannot use your personal data for their own purposes unrelated to the work they are carrying out for us;

·         to respond to duly authorised information requests of governmental authorities or where required by law;

 

Whilst Tapestry Research does utilise artificial intelligence (AI) tools and resources to conduct elements of our studies (such as the probing of open-ended responses within an online survey, performing checks on data quality, and analysing open-ended data post-fieldwork), we have no intention of using AI with your personal data and have safeguards in place to ensure this doesn’t happen.

 

8. Who we share the information with

From time to time we may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. These functions may include hosting our databases or surveys, for data processing services, analysing data, recruiting participants to take part in studies, or interviewing respondents. The third parties will have access to the personal data needed to perform their functions but may not use it for other purposes. They will never use your information to market to you. They must also process the personal data as set out in this Privacy Notice and as permitted by the UK’s data protection laws and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

 

We will not sell your personal data to third parties.

 

9. What is a Data Controller?

A Data Controller is a party that determines the purpose or means of the processing of personal data.

 

 

10. What is a Data Processor?

A Data Processor is a party that processes the personal data on behalf of the Data Controller.

 

11. Tapestry Research as a Data Processor

 

11.1 Our role as a Data Processor

In relation to our role as a market research agency and Data Processor we process information under the instructions of our clients and have no direct relationship with the individuals whose personal data we collect or process.

 

If you seek access to correct, amend, or delete inaccurate personal data, or if you seek to invoke any other rights in respect to your personal data under applicable laws, you should direct your query to Tapestry Research’s client as it is the Data Controller. If Tapestry Research is requested by our client to remove personal data, we will respond within a reasonable timeframe in accordance with applicable laws.

 

If you struggle to contact our client you can request us to contact them on your behalf by emailing us at DPO@tapestryresearch.com or by calling us.  We will require some information from you such as your name, phone number, address, or email address in order to carry out your request.

 

11.2 Data storage, data access and data retention

Personal data that is collected from you may, subject to adequate confidentiality undertakings, and for the sole purpose of providing our clients with the services they have contracted from us, be accessed by our personnel and/or by third party companies and subcontractors that help us provide our services. In any such case, the personnel granted access to your personal data will have been deemed by their managers to have a reasonable business need to do so.

 

We will retain the personal data which our clients have instructed us to process for them for as long as needed to provide the services to our clients in accordance with the contractual terms in our agreements with them. Our clients can at any time instruct for such personal data to be deleted. Tapestry Research will retain any personal data as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and in accordance with our client agreements until our work is complete and the data is no longer required.  In general, Tapestry Research aims to not keep personal data for more than 6 months after our work is complete.

 

11.3 Sharing of survey responses with our clients

In most cases we will only share anonymised data or aggregated data with our clients and they will not be able to attribute any of the responses that you have provided to you, as an individual. In these cases, we will not be passing your personal data to our clients.

 

In the event that a specific project requires us to share any personally identifiable responses with our clients, we will make it explicitly clear at a relevant part of a survey and obtain informed consent from you as a respondent to share that information with a named client. You will be able to withdraw from the study at any point if you do not want your data to be shared with our client or for any other reason.

 

11.4 Recording or re-contacting you

We may record telephone interviews so that our interviewers can be monitored to ensure data is not falsified or inaccurate. We may also record any long in-depth interviews and have them transcribed to ensure that we record the contents of your responses accurately. Similarly, we may ask for your phone number and permission to re-contact you if we conduct a face-to-face interview or if you attend a focus group to ensure that you took part in the research. We may also re-contact you if we have given you a cash incentive to ensure that you received it. In all these cases we will ask your permission to re-contact you or to record your interview.  

 

12. Tapestry Research as a Data Controller

 

12.1 Our role as a Data Controller

When Tapestry Research acts as the Data Controller we will make our role clear to you.  You may choose to provide us with your personal data in a variety of situations. For example, you may want to take part in a study or to give us information such as your name, residential address, email address, post code, resume, phone number, and additional contact information. We will let you know how we will use such information and seek your consent in accordance with applicable laws before we collect it from you. You may at any time revoke your consent or invoke rights in relation to the personal data provided to us in accordance with any applicable laws. If you inform us that you do not want us to use this information to make further contact with you beyond fulfilling your requests, we will respect your wishes. If you give us personal data about somebody else such as a spouse or work colleague, we will assume that you have his or her permission to do so.

 

You may contact Tapestry Research in order to invoke your rights as a data subject under applicable laws in accordance with section 15 below.

 

12.2 Information we must provide you

a) Tapestry Research is an entity acting as the Data Controller.

 

b) Contact details of the data protection officer are available in section 14 below.

 

c) The purposes of the processing are either stated in the consent note we obtain from you prior to processing your personal data, or alternatively:

·         To invite you to complete surveys;

·         To gather information as part of a study;

·         To anonymise your responses to a survey;

·         To process your replies to a survey to enable us to provide aggregate level data or insight to our clients in a non-identifiable manner;

·         To verify your identity;

·         To provide information on products, services, or call-back requests.

 

If you no longer wish to receive communications from us, you may opt-out by emailing DPO@tapestryresearch.com or calling us to tell us you do not want to be contacted in future. We will require your name, phone number, address, email address and the reason why we contacted you, including the relevant details of the study, where possible.

 

d) The recipients of your personal data will be selected Tapestry Research employees and third-party providers under contract with Tapestry Research ensuring data protection levels equivalent to those set forth in this Privacy Notice. Where personal data collected in the EEA is transferred to a subcontractor in a third country outside of the EEA and which country is not deemed to meet the adequacy standards of the EU Commission, Tapestry Research shall ensure that it only transfers your personal data with appropriate safeguards and in accordance with GDPR.

 

e) We will retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary in accordance with the purpose of the processing as communicated to you as part of the consent notice.

 

f) We delete personal data relating to surveys where the data subject has a) withdrawn their consent or b) as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and in accordance with our client agreements when our work is complete and the data is no longer required.

 

g) You have the right to seek access to, a copy of, and rectification or erasure of your personal data in accordance with applicable laws as set forth in section 15 below.

 

h) Where the processing of your personal data is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw such consent at any time as set forth in section 15 below.

 

i) Where applicable laws so prescribe, you have the right to lodge a complaint to a supervisory authority as set forth in section 15 below.

 

12.3 Other Tapestry Research notices

In some cases, specific Tapestry Research studies may contain other notices about the use of data and the information practices applicable to those studies.

 

12.4 Cross-border flows of personal data

Tapestry Research conducts research and has partners globally. Our privacy practices are designed to provide protection for your personal data in accordance with the laws applicable to each respective location.

 

We will not transfer personal data of citizens of EU countries outside of the EU unless this has been notified to you and any transfer is under a contract which includes the use of EU approved standard contractual clauses (Model Clauses) or otherwise in accordance with GDPR.

 

12.5 Data storage, data access and data retention

Personal data that is collected from you may, subject to adequate confidentiality undertakings, and for the sole purpose of providing our clients with the services they have contracted from us, be accessed by our personnel and/or by third party companies and subcontractors that help us provide our services. In any such case, the personnel granted access to your personal data will have been deemed by their managers to have a reasonable business need to do so.

 

We will retain personal data for as long as needed to provide the services to our clients in accordance with the contractual terms in our agreements with them. Tapestry Research will retain any personal data as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and in accordance with our client agreements until our work is complete and the data is no longer required.

 

12.6 Sharing of survey responses with our clients

In most cases we will only share anonymised data or aggregated data with our clients and they will not be able to attribute any of the responses that you have provided as an individual. In these cases, we will not be passing your personal data to our clients.

 

In the event that a specific project requires us to share any personally identifiable responses with our clients, we will make it explicitly clear at a relevant part of a survey and we will obtain informed consent from you to share that information with a named client.

 

12.7 Sharing with Service Providers

We may share your information with third parties who provide services on our behalf to help with our business activities under contractual terms providing adequate protection to your information.  These companies are authorised to use your personal data only under our instructions and only as necessary to provide the contracted services to us.  These services may include:

 

·         Conducting research, coding, translation and data analysis;

·         Creation of films, images and audio media;

·         In conduct of audits on our business to ensure that we are complying with our responsibilities.

 

12.8 Passive collection

Some of our surveys may be hosted on sites that gather certain information automatically. This information may include Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring and exit pages, the files viewed on the site (for example, HTML pages, graphics, or other), operating system, date and time stamp, and clickstream data to analyse trends in the aggregate and administer the site.

 

12.11 Recording or Re-contacting you

We may record telephone interviews so that our interviewers can be monitored to ensure data is not falsified or inaccurate. We may also record any long in-depth interviews and have them transcribed to ensure that we record the contents of your responses accurately. Similarly, we may ask for your phone number and permission to re-contact you if we conduct a face-to-face interview or if you attend a focus group to ensure that you took part in the research. We may also re-contact you if we have given you a cash incentive to ensure that you received it. In all these cases we will ask your permission to re-contact you or to record your interview.  

 

12.12 Disclosures required by law

We may also disclose your personal data as required by law such as to comply with a court order or other legal process when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

 

We may also disclose your personal data to any other third party with your prior consent.

 

12.13 Notification of changes

We may update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes we will notify you by means of a notice on the Tapestry Research website (www.tapestryresearch.com) prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

 

12.14 User data supplementation

We may receive information about you from other sources including from our clients, publicly available databases or third parties from whom we have purchased data and combine this data with information we already have about you.  This helps us to update, expand, and analyse our records, improve the insights obtained from our research, identify potential research participants, and provide products and services that may be of interest to you.  If you provide us personal data about others or if others give us your information, we will only use that information for the specific reason for which it was provided to us.

 

Examples of the types of personal data that may be obtained from public sources, clients or purchased from third parties and combined with information we already have about you may include purchased lists of profiled contact details.

 

13. Safeguarding child participants in Tapestry Research studies

 

As mentioned above, Tapestry Research have no intention of collecting personal data from young people without the consent of their parent or guardian.  However, from time to time, we may request permission from a parent or guardian to speak to their child for the purposes of our research.  Should a child provide any response or feedback that gives rise to Tapestry Research having concerns for their mental or physical wellbeing, we are obliged to report this to either the parent/guardian or a third party (such as the police or social services), depending on the context of the concerns.

 

If Tapestry Research are in possession of the personal details of the parent or guardian, they will use this information to facilitate this reporting.

 

In many cases, Tapestry Research will not be in possession of the personal details of the parent or guardian.  For example, Tapestry may have used a third party panel provider or qualitative recruiter to source the parent or guardian and therefore have no need to collect their personal details directly.  In these instances, where a concern about the mental or physical wellbeing of a child has been raised, Tapestry Research would refer back to the panel provider or recruiter to facilitate this reporting.

 

14. Imperium data quality evaluation

We may use the services of Imperium, the leading provider of data quality and anti-fraud solutions to the marketing research industry and beyond. 

 

Imperium provides world-class technology services and customized solutions to authenticate personal information and curb fraudulent online activities. Leading market research and e-commerce businesses rely on Imperium’s platform-independent tool sets to validate their customers’ identities, verify data accuracy, and automate review processes.

 

The company’s flagship product ‘RelevantID’ is widely recognized as the market research sector’s de facto data-quality and anti-fraud tool.  Within our surveys, Imperium sets a cookie that simply stores the device id generated by RelevantID.  This is used for deduping purposes, as the cookie can be used to identify the same device in the future.  This is a first party cookie tied to the domain of the survey.

 

Imperium’s ‘Real Answer’ is a web-based market research service that measures the degree to which a respondent’s response to open-end questions are suspicious of fraud or bot behavior in order to improve survey quality.

 

For more information on how Imperium may process your personal data with regard to their products and services, see their Privacy Policy.

 

15. Security measures

We place great importance on the security of all personal data. We have security measures in place to attempt to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal data under our control. For example, our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorised personnel have access to personal information. Whilst we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of information will never occur, we use all reasonable efforts to prevent it.

 

You should bear in mind that submission of information over the internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information you submit via the Site whilst it is in transit over the internet and any such submission is at your own risk.

 

It is advisable to close your browser when you have finished your user session to help ensure others do not access your personal information if you use a shared computer or a computer in a public place.

 

16. Data Protection Officer details

If you have any questions about how we use your personal data or about this Privacy Notice, you can contact Tapestry Research’s Data Protection Officer using either of the following

 

By email:

DPO@tapestryresearch.com

 

By post:

Data Protection Officer

Tapestry Research

1-2 St Johns Path

Farringdon

London

EC1M 4DD

 

17. Your rights

You have the right under certain circumstances:

·         to be provided with a copy of your personal data held by us;

·         to request the rectification or erasure of your personal data held by us;

·         to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data (while we verify or investigate your concerns with this information, for example);

·         to object to the further processing of your personal data;

·         to request that your provided personal data be moved to a third party.

·         Your right to withdraw consent: where the processing of your personal information by us is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent without detriment at any time by contacting us.

 

You can exercise the rights listed above at any time by contacting Tapestry Research’s Data Protection Officer using the details in section 16 above.

 

Before Tapestry Research is able to assist you, provide you with any information, or correct any inaccuracies, we may ask you to verify your identity and to provide other details to help us to respond to your request. We will endeavour to respond within an appropriate timeframe.

 

If you have an unresolved privacy or personal data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact us and we will address it as a priority. If you wish to complain about Tapestry Research’s handling of your data you can complain to the supervisory authority in the jurisdiction in which you reside. In the United Kingdom this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

 

You can contact the ICO as follows:

By phone:

030 3123 1113

 

By post:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Online: https://ico.org.uk/concerns

 

Go to  http://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm to see the details of the local data protection authorities in other EU markets.