FAQs
This page contains information for those who have been invited to take part in Public Voice.
Why have I been invited to take part?
Over 100,000 households in the UK have been asked to take part in this study since it began. Yours is one of those, selected at random from a list of all the UK’s addresses held by the Royal Mail. We have no other information about your household.
What will I be asked to do?
You have been invited to take part in a 20-minute Public Voice survey about you, your thoughts and opinions.
At the end of this survey you will be asked if you would like to take part in more surveys in the future. If you agree to be a part of the Public Voice panel, you will be invited to take additional surveys every 4-8 weeks. These will usually take between 15 and 20 minutes to answer. You can answer these questions either online or by telephone.
To say thanks, each time you complete a survey you will receive a gift voucher - typically up to £10 - which you can either claim or donate to charity.
Taking part in Public Voice surveys is completely voluntary - it will always be your choice to take part or not and you can decide each time you are invited to take a survey.
You can opt out of the Public Voice panel by contacting our helpline at pvoice@veriangroup.com.
What will happen to my answers?
We will use the information you give us to help us understand the range of opinions held by people in the UK.
The questions will be on a variety of topics and most of them should be easy to answer. To better understand your answers, we will also ask you for some personal information including your ethnic group and your health. Although all the questions are important to us, you will be able to miss out any you would prefer not to answer.
How will my data be kept secure?
Your personal details such as name and address will be held securely by Verian Group and will only be used to contact you about Public Voice. No research sponsor will have access to these details.
Taking part is voluntary and any information you give us will be used only with your clear consent. Your answers will be processed in compliance with the Data Protection Action 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation.
Your personal data is stored on a secure server with access restricted to only those who need it. Any transfers of information are done securely using an encrypted transfer system.
You can access the privacy policy for this study here.
Can I be identified from my answers?
Your survey answers will be processed so that no one can identify you personally from your responses to the survey. Your name, address, contact details, and any other personal information will be removed, so these are not linked to your answers.
Your answers will be combined with other people’s answers to make an anonymised dataset, which is then given to the research sponsor.
The LSE will also use some of these datasets, but with additional information about how the data was collected.
Can I withdraw?
You can ask to be removed from the Public Voice study at any time and your personal details will be deleted as soon as possible.
From this point, you will no longer receive surveys from Public Voice. However, we will not be able to remove your answers to surveys which have already closed at the time the request is made.
To do so, please contact our helpline at pvoice@veriangroup.com or leave us a message on 0800 015 3001. In your message, please include your full name and your individual reference number, which should be included in your invitation.
Who can I talk to if I have more questions about the PUBLIC Voice study?
You can email us at pvoice@veriangroup.com or leave us a message on 0800 015 3001. We will get back to you as quickly as possible (ordinarily within three working days).