Privacy Statement

Introduction

McNair yellowSquares Pty Ltd respects and upholds your rights under the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”).  McNair yellowSquares adheres to the Privacy (Market and Social Research) Code 2021 (“Code”) click here.

For more information about the Privacy Act, and the Australian Privacy Principles click here.  

McNair yellowSquares Pty Ltd is Australian owned and operated. 

Participating in Research 

You may be selected to participate in research through one of the following methods: 

• A random selection by telephone, using publicly available telephone listings or randomly generated numbers; 
• A random approach in a public space 
• A commercially available marketing database 
• Membership of a research panel 
• A contact list provided by one of our clients.  In this case we will tell you which client has provided your contact details.  We will have been given your contact details by our client solely for the purpose of the research we are conducting. 

 You will always be told which method has been used to select you to participate in the research.   

Personal Information  

Personal information is information or an opinion that could reasonably identify you. McNair yellowSquares may ask you questions that include personal information such as your name, date of birth, telephone number, email, address, salary or occupation.  Personal information may also be included in your answers to research questions that we ask.  You can choose not to answer any questions.  McNair will only ask for personal information that is necessary for the research. 

When providing personal information, you have the option to remain anonymous or to be identified by use of a pseudonym. However, in certain circumstances, such as where we receive your contact details from a third party or where the research data itself may potentially allow for identification, this may not be practicable. 

Sensitive Information 

McNair yellowSquares only collects sensitive information about topics such as your political views, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or health information when this is necessary for the purposes of the research objectives, with your prior consent, and if this meets the following ethical guidelines: 

• The research is clearly for the purpose of providing or improving a public service, such as health or social service; or 
• The research is clearly for the purposes of assisting an organisation to provide a positive non-commercial outcome – such as a radio program that meets the needs of certain communities. 

Identified data  

McNair yellowSquares will only retain the responses to surveys in association with your contact details if you have given your consent.  For example, your contact details may be kept in association with responses you have given us if you have agreed to participate in related follow-up research.  We do not disclose personally identifiable information to a third party for a purpose other than conducting our research without your prior consent or required by Australian law.   

Your personal and research information is held on secure servers in Australia.  We do not disclose your personal information, without your consent, to recipients overseas. McNair will destroy or de-identify your personal information as soon as reasonably practicable after it is no longer required for the completion of the research.  McNair will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information held from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.  The security of our records is audited every year to ensure compliance with ISO 20252:2019, the International Standard for Market, Opinion and Social Research.  Unsolicited personal information will be given the same protections as solicited personal information.  When conducting our research, we may rely on a third-party service provider to host or store the data we collect. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that third party service providers comply with this Privacy Statement, the Privacy Act and the APPs. 

If McNair yellowSquares holds identified data about you – that is, the answers you have given to a survey – in association with your contact details, you can contact us to request: 

• Access to any information held that is associated with your identity 
• Request to have any information associated with you changed or updated 
• Request to have any information associated with you to be deleted. 

You can do this by contacting our Privacy Officer by telephone on 1800 669 133 or by email at: privacyofficer@mcnair.com.au .  You can also contact the Privacy Officer if you have a concern that your personal information is not handled as required by the APPs and outlined by this Privacy Policy.  We will respond to your complaint promptly and with courtesy.   

Information Recorded 

• Survey data is stored on secure electronic servers, protected by passwords. 
• A selection of recorded telephone interviews is retained for quality control purposes.   
• Focus groups and in-person interviews may be audio and/or video recorded or watched live.  In these cases, you will be advised of this prior to the interview or focus group.  Clients provided with audio or video recordings or who are permitted to watch an interview or focus groups are not provided with the identity of the participants. 

Panel members 

McNair yellowSquares manages several panels. Please refer to individual panel privacy policies. 

Identifying our clients 

McNair yellowSquares will advise you who our client is when you are invited to participate in research.  In some instances we may not be able to advise you who our client is until the end of the survey, to ensure that the answers you give are not influenced by naming our client. 

Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 

McNair yellowSquares will take reasonable steps under the Privacy Act, to secure personal information. Should a data breach involving personal information occur: 

• McNair will take positive steps to address the breach in a timely manner and take remedial action so the data breach does not result in serious harm. 
• McNair will undertake reasonable and prompt assessment to determine if it is an ‘eligible data breach’, that is a breach likely to result in serious harm to an individual. 

In compliance with Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017, McNair yellowSquares agree that if they become aware an eligible data breach has occurred, they will promptly notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the Australian Data and Insights Association, and the individuals at likely risk of serious harm. 

This policy is reviewed periodically as required in compliance with the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Market and Social Research) Code.