Participant Privacy Policy

Last Updated: February 2022

Overview

At AMG Research, protecting our research participants’ privacy and security is a top priority. This policy describes what types of information we may gather about you, how we use it, under what circumstances we disclose it to third parties and clients, and your rights to change or delete it. This privacy policy applies to all forms of data collection in research studies and all modes of communication with research participants.

This policy does not apply to the websites or applications of other companies or organizations, even if we link to those websites or applications. You should carefully review the privacy policies of those websites and applications in order to determine how they treat any personally identifiable information that may identify you as a specific individual (“Personal Information”).

Primary Principles:

Respondents are defined as willing participants in survey research who are appropriately informed about the purpose of the survey and use of the data collected. AMG Research intends that respondents will be delighted with their experience and willing to participate again.
No respondent information is ever used for lead generation or for any purpose other than marketing research, unless such use is specified for a particular study and agreed to by individual participants.
Respondents are anonymous and their individual answers will not be associated with their personally identifiable information without their consent. Respondents’ answers will only be reported in aggregate, and specific respondents’ answers will not be identified with them to anyone outside AMG Research unless authorized by the respondent. Only those AMG Research employees or sub-contractors who must work with the data will have access to respondent information. Sub-contractors will be required to implement the same or similar privacy policy.
Our clients may be given a minimal amount of respondent information for validation or for appending client-owned data to the survey results. However, client must agree to conduct validation or re-contact in a professional manner so as not to harass or embarrass respondents. This information may not be used for lead generation or any other purpose other than legitimate and ethical survey research purposes.
AMG Research and its subcontractors are exempt from “Do Not Call List” regulations since the company is a research company and not a telephone sales organization.
Telephone interviews may be monitored and recorded for quality control and reporting purposes. When recording is possible, survey respondents will be informed at the beginning of the interview and the interview will not be recorded if they so request. AMG Research will make a good faith effort to cooperate with all state and federal laws governing the recording of interviews.
We and our third-party service providers may collect certain information about your use of our platforms for gathering survey data. This “usage information” may include the information such as the browser and operating system you are using; the URL, advertisements, or search terms that referred or otherwise led you to the Platforms (if applicable); the IP address or other unique identifier for any computer, mobile phone or other device used to access the Platforms. Some mobile service providers may also provide us or our third party service providers with information regarding the physical location of a Device used to access the Platforms.
AMG Research uses lists provided by clients for targeted studies. Customer information that may be provided with these lists may be integrated with respondent answers in order to analyze sub-samples of demographics, customer status, or customer history. Client-provided lists are used only for the contracted study and for no other purpose.
We will only use email addresses to contact respondents if they have agreed to be contacted or have a reasonable expectation that they could be contacted. This includes respondents who have given AMG Research permission to send email or who have opted-in to a third-party list service. We will also send emails on behalf of our clients, in order to contact potential respondents who have some type of relationship with that organization. AMG Research will not use false or misleading return email addresses in the survey process.

AMG Research email survey invitations will provide a means for opting out of the survey or future surveys and AMG Research will advise clients who might initiate contacts to do the same.

We take commercially reasonable steps to help protect and secure your personal information. However, no data transmission over the Internet, wireless transmission or electronic storage of information can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Please note that we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information we collect. You use our Platforms and provide us with your information at your own risk.
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@AMG-Research.com.
If, through your communication with AMG Research, you feel you have been reached in error or would otherwise prefer to be removed from our study list, please reply to any emails with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line or ask the individual who contacted you via telephone to have you removed from our study list.

Other Detailed Information

Our Uses of Information

We may use information about you to: (1) conduct quantitative or qualitative marketing and social research; (2) to establish suitability for further quantitative and qualitative marketing and social research; (3) allow you to use our online data collection services or to provide services related to your participation in our research; (4) contact you with regard to those services or, at our discretion, changes to our policies; (5) to meet legal and regulatory requirements; (6) to confirm information gathered from you in the past; and (7) as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, for purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information, or with your consent.

When You Agree to Receive Information from Third Parties or Request That We Share Your Information

We may offer the opportunity to receive information from, or to otherwise have your information shared with, one or more third parties. If you agree at that time to have your personal information shared, your personal information will be disclosed to that third party (or parties) and will be subject to the privacy policy and practices of that third party. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of third parties, and, if you later decide that you no longer want to receive communications from a third party, you will need to contact that third party directly.

Third Party Service Providers

We may share personal information with our service providers who perform services on our behalf. Such services include, for example, conducting telephone surveys, hosting or maintaining the data collection platforms, providing customer support, sending e-mail or other communications, providing marketing assistance, and providing analytics services. We do not authorize these organizations to use or disclose the information they obtain from us for any purpose other than the purposes for which they obtained the information or to comply with legal requirements.

Contests, Sweepstakes and Promotions

At times we will sponsor sweepstakes or other promotions (any, a “Promotion,” and collectively, “Promotions”). Participation in such Promotions is voluntary but subject to certain requirements as otherwise described to you. In order to participate in a Promotion, you may be asked to provide personal information. By participating in a Promotion, you agree to the Promotion’s terms and conditions, which will be clearly stated. Where we do not sponsor a Promotion, the identity of the sponsor will be clearly disclosed in the Promotion’s terms. We cannot be responsible for actions or policies of third-party Promotion sponsors. Those considering participating in a Promotion are encouraged to review the privacy policy of the Promotion sponsor before entering.

Administrative and Legal Disclosures

We may disclose your information, including personal information and Usage Information, to appropriate third parties if we are required to do so by law or if we believe that such action is necessary:

To comply with legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order;
To protect any AMG Research Company’s rights and property;
To investigate criminal activity that may have occurred through or in any way connected to using the Platforms or other AMG Research property;
To protect against misuse or unauthorized use of the Platforms and to enforce or defend any applicable Terms of Use or other policies applicable to the Platforms; or
During emergencies, such as when we believe someone’s physical safety is at risk.

These disclosures may be made without notice to you.

Protection for Children — COPPA Compliance

We are committed to protecting the privacy and rights of children online. To that end, we do not collect any personal information from users who we know are under the age of 13.

Consent to Transfer

If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that information we collect through the Platforms will be transferred to and processed in the United States. By using the Platforms or providing us with any information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States, a jurisdiction in which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen.

In addition, AMG Research may partner with third party service providers outside the United States. In these cases, we will only transfer personally identifiable information that is necessary for the completion of services. By using the Platforms or providing us with any information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to its processing and storage of your information by those vendors, and the transfer of that information back to the United States.

California Residents — Your California Privacy Rights

Pursuant to California Civil Code Section 1798.83, residents of the State of California have the right to request from companies conducting business in California certain information relating to third parties to which the company has disclosed certain categories of personal information during the preceding year for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. Alternatively, the law provides that a company may comply, as we do, by disclosing in its privacy policy that it provides consumers choice (opt-out or opt-in) regarding sharing personal information with third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes, and information on how to exercise that choice. As stated above in this Privacy Policy, we provide you choice prior to sharing your personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. If you do not opt-in or if you do not choose to opt-out at the time we offer that choice, we do not share your personal information with that identified third party for its direct marketing purposes.

If you are a California resident and you have questions about our practices with respect to sharing information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes and your ability to exercise choice, please send your request to the following email address Privacy@AMG-Research.com or write to us at the following mailing address: Privacy Officer, 2605 Nicholson Road, Suite 5200 Sewickley, PA 15143.

You must put the statement “Your California Privacy Rights” in the subject field of your email or include it in your writing if you choose to write to us at the designated mailing address. You must include your name, street address, city, state, and zip code. We are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or do not have complete information.

Participant Privacy Policy