Privacy Notice for Research Participants

1. Who we are and what we do

Quadrangle is an independent research and strategy business which helps clients create, use, and communicate insight to drive and inspire change.

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 also undertake research to help our clients communicate better and more effectively with their customers. We conduct surveys using a variety of methodologies including by telephone, face to face, online, by email and by SMS.

Quadrangle is a trading name of Quadrangle Research Group Limited, a company incorporated in England with Company Number 8064640.

2. About this Privacy Notice

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.

This privacy notice relates to personal data of:

• Visitors to Quadrangle controlled websites, and if you are visiting one of our websites, please also refer to our Cookie Notice.
• Respondents, who participate in surveys or qualitative research on behalf of our clients.

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

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, in particular, by reference to an identifier. This definition provides for a wide range of personal identifiers including name, address, email address, identification number, location data or online identifier. Personal data applies to both automated personal data and to manual filing systems where personal data are accessible according to specific criteria. If an individual cannot be identified from the data held then that data is not classified as personal data.

There are "special categories" of more sensitive personal information which require a higher level of protection. This includes information about a person's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health or condition or their sexual life. In this Privacy Notice, "data protection laws" means all applicable UK data protection legislation, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA).

4. Why did you contact me in the first place?

As a customer consultancy Quadrangle is commissioned to conduct research by a very wide range of organisations, including amongst others: charities, education institutions, trade associations, local authorities, government departments and a wide range of commercial businesses. All these organisations share the same need of ascertaining what their customers, potential customers or the general public think so that they can move their organisations forward better and ensure that they are able to provide you with an improved service. If you have been contacted to take part in research by Quadrangle, it is because they would like your views and opinions.

5. If you do not want to take 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 so. If you would no longer like to be contacted to take part in research studies undertaken by Quadrangle, please contact us either by phone or by emailing dataprotectionofficer@quadrangle.com 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 your name, phone number, address, email address (and if possible the name of the client or study) in order to carry out your request.

Quadrangle does not sell or market any products on our clients' behalf. The reason why 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 survey to share personal data with a client.

As a market research company conducting surveys, Quadrangle is exempt from the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) guidelines as the TPS was set up to allow registration by those who do not wish to receive sales and marketing calls.

6. Information we collect

We collect personal information when you take part in research 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, your voice or video footage of you, as well as your responses to the research which may include your views on our client's products and services and their competitors, demographic, financial and behavioural data.

We will also collect personal information if you fill in forms on the website or email us, for example if you download a report, sign up to receive our newsletter or take part in surveys about our website/services.

This website is not directed at children and 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 such 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 send you future reports and newsletters written by Quadrangle;
• to manage and improve our website and services;
• to invite you to take part in and manage research surveys and other market research activities;
• to share with agents, contractors or partners of Quadrangle in connection with services that these individuals or entities perform for, or with, our company;
• to respond to duly authorised information requests of governmental authorities or where required by law;
• to investigate suspected fraudulent activity in connection with the website or violation of another party's rights;
• in connection with the sale, assignment, or other transfer of our business to which the information relates.

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, surveys or other research projects; for data processing services; analysing data; recruiting or paying participants to take part in studies or for organising research events at venues; or to send you information that you requested. We may use third-party AI tools or applications to carry out tasks such as providing suggested interview questions or prompts, analysing and reporting data, translation, coding, drafting, summarising and transcribing information, identifying trends or themes, generating ideas. Third-party AI tools or applications are vetted prior to use and the outputs are not used for automated decision-making. 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.

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. Quadrangle's two roles as Data Controller and Data Processor

When we collect your personal data and we are the Data Controller of that personal data, we will always disclose this fact at the beginning of a study, together with the client's name, the purpose of the study, the types of data being collected and the types of processing that will be performed with that data including what data will be shared with our client. We will also ask you if you consent to take part in the study and for your permission to process the data as described. We will always give you the right to object to participating in the research or to withdraw from it.

We act as a Data Processor when we process data on behalf of a client. The client alone determines the purpose of and manner in which the data is collected and used. When we are acting as a Data Processor on behalf of a client we will disclose this fact at the start of a study, together with the name of the client or clients we are processing this data for.

12. Quadrangle as a Data Processor

12.1 Our role as a Data Processor

In relation to our role as a customer consultancy 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 Quadrangle's client as it is the Data Controller. If you struggle to contact our client you can request us to contact them on your behalf by contacting Quadrangle's Data Protection Officer.

12.2 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 to or by third party companies and subcontractors that help us provide our services.

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.

12.3 Sharing of research 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. Where projects require us to share any personally identifiable responses with our clients, we will make it explicitly clear at the relevant part of a study and obtain informed consent from you as a respondent to share that information with a named client.

12.4 Recording or re-contacting you

As part of our quality control procedures, we may record telephone interviews so that our interviewers can be monitored to ensure data is not falsified or inaccurate. We may also audio and/or video record any long in-depth interviews or group discussions and have them transcribed to ensure that we record the contents of your responses accurately. In all these cases we will ask your permission to re-contact you or to record your interview.

13. Quadrangle as a Data Controller

13.1 Our role as a Data Controller

When Quadrangle 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. 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.

13.2 Information we must provide you

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 or other research projects;
• 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 following the unsubscribe instructions located at the bottom of any email communication, or by emailing us at dontcontactme@quadrangle.com.

13.3 Cross-border flows of personal data

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

13.4 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.

13.5 Tracking technologies

Quadrangle and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies to analyse trends, administer their websites, track users' movements around the website, and to keep track of the domains from which people visit.

13.6 Disclosures required by law or to fulfil a business transition

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.

13.7 Notification of changes

We may update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes to our information practices. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

14. Security measures

The security of your personal data is important to us. Quadrangle operates under a strong security and privacy regime. We have successfully undergone third party auditing in relation to our Information Security Management System, and we are accredited by the British Assessment Bureau that we have met the requirements of ISO 27001 in relation to information security.

Quadrangle conducts all research in accordance with the Market Research Society (MRS) code of conduct. Further information about the MRS code of conduct can be found here.

15. Your rights, privacy questions, incident reporting and consent

UK data protection laws provide individuals with the following rights: the right to be informed; the right of access; the right to rectification; the right to erasure; the right to restrict processing; the right to data portability; the right to object; and rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact Quadrangle's Data Protection Officer using the contact details in Section 1.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to raise a concern. Please see our Data Protection Complaints Policy for more details about this process.

If you have an unresolved privacy or personal data use concern that we have not addressed to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Phone: 030 3123 1113
Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Online: https://ico.org.uk/concerns

16. Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact Quadrangle's Data Protection Officer using the contact details in Section 1.