Opinion
Panel Privacy Policy
Your
privacy is important to us at Great Lakes Marketing.
To better protect your privacy we provide this notice
explaining our information practices and the choices you can
make about the way your information is collected and used
Great
Lakes Marketing is an independent marketing research firm
that conducts market research studies among consumers and
businesses on a wide variety of subjects. We collect
personal information about our Opinion Panel members who are
interested in periodically participating in marketing
research studies in order to deliver better service to both
you, our research study participants, and to our clients who
sponsor the market research studies.
We
do not provide commercial entities with this personal
information for commercial or marketing purposes. This
Privacy Policy is intended to fully inform you, our Opinion
Panel research members and research study respondents, about
our uses of the information we collect.
Personal
Information
Great
Lakes Marketing collects certain information to aid us in
selecting and inviting Opinion Panel research members to be
respondents in various research studies that we conduct from
time to time. This information includes: Opinion Panel
members’ name, address, birth date, selected household
demographics, and similar information for other household
members who may also be interested in participating in
market research studies, as well as whether or not the
Opinion Panel household member(s) is a minor. We will
also request other contact information, such as e-mail
address and telephone number, so that we can contact you
from time to time about participating in market research
studies. We will use this information for the
following purposes:
-
To
communicate general information about Great Lakes
Marketing research studies to you.
-
To
screen or identify likely study respondents for a
particular study based on your personal or household
demographic characteristics, or your past participation
in similar types of research studies.
-
To
periodically send you a request to update your Opinion
Panel basic information about your household and all
family members who would be interested in participating
in our marketing research studies.
-
In
the case of minors, to inform you about a potential
study that involves inviting minors to participate in
the study and to ask your permission for the minors in
your household to participate in the study.
Research
Study Participation Information
Great
Lakes Marketing will also maintain market research study
participation logs whenever study respondents participate in
a study. We will use this information for the
following purposes:
-
To
verify that study participants qualify for a specific
study based on past participation screening limitations
for that study.
-
To
gather statistical data about research study
participation patterns for the improvement of the Great
Lakes Marketing Opinion Panel services for both the
Opinion Panel members and our market research clients
who sponsor the studies.
We
will not provide access to any third parties to the
information contained in our research study participation
logs. [except in connection with investigation of or for
legal proceedings.]
We
will not share information about an individual’s frequency
of study participation or the nature of any study
participation.
It
may be possible that another service or website can be
accessed via a link on the Great Lakes Marketing website
home page or the Opinion Panel web page site. We will
not provide specific information about an individual to any
such service. However, it is possible that the linked
service may receive information that a link on the Great
Lakes Marketing website was used to access their site.
It is also possible that such a non-Great Lakes Marketing
site may collect personal information on its site.
Great Lakes Marketing is not responsible in any way for
information provided or used at sites not under its control.
Receiving
information from us
Opinion
Panel members may choose to "opt out" of receiving
newsletters, research study announcements and surveys, study
recruitment calls, or other materials from Great Lakes
Marketing. In addition, Opinion Panel members may
unsubscribe to any of our electronic mailings at any time by
following the instructions at the end of every mailing.
Opinion Panel participants may also "opt out" of
receiving materials from Great Lakes Marketing by contacting
us at:
Opinion@GLM.com or by calling our office
at 419-534-4700 during regular business hours (8:30 am to
5:00 pm weekdays).
Surveys
Our
site may request information from Opinion Panel participants
via surveys. Other research methodologies may also be
used to conduct surveys with respondents such as telephone,
mail and intercept surveys, focus groups and pre-recruited
central location surveys. Participation in these
surveys is completely voluntary and individuals therefore
have a choice whether or not to disclose this information.
Information requested may include: your input about products
and services that are the subject of a research study,
demographic information about yourself or your household,
and a request to conduct a follow-up interview with you to
obtain more input from you about the topic of the study.
Survey
information may also be used for purposes of monitoring or
improving the use and user satisfaction of the Great Lakes
Marketing Opinion Panel and its website. All
information provided in these surveys is confidential and
the individual study respondents will not be identified or
specifically associated with your individual answers to a
survey.
Security
Protection
of Opinion Panel members’ information and survey
participants data is important to Great Lakes Marketing.
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and
ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place
appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures
to safeguard and secure the information we collect.
When
Opinion Panel members submit sensitive information via the
website, that information is protected both online and
off-line.
Online
Protection - Encryption Technology
When
our Opinion Panel registration form asks participants to
enter sensitive information, that information is encrypted
before transmission and is protected with the standard
encryption software in the industry - SSL. While on a
secure page, such as our registration page, the lock icon on
the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and
Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to
un-locked, or open, when you are on a page that is not
secure. Web browsers can also be set to alert you if
you are on a page that is secure. To ensure that SSL
technology is active, you must use an SSL-enabled browser
such as Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher or Internet
Explorer 3.0 or higher. If you have questions
regarding security with your specific browser, please refer
to your browser's help files or documentation.
Off-Line
Security
All
of our Opinion Panel members’ information, not just the
sensitive information mentioned above, has restricted access
in our offices. Only our employees who need the
information to perform a specific job (for example, a
research project manager or an Opinion Panel support
representative) are granted password-protected access to
personally identifiable information. And all our
employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy
practices.
Minors/Children
The
privacy and protection of children is of importance to us at
Great Lakes Marketing. For this reason, individuals
who are less than 18 years of age will need the permission
of a parent or other legal guardian to participate in any
market research study. This legal guardian may be
entitled to information about the participation of the minor
in a market research study conducted by Great Lakes
Marketing. Announcements and other communications
about a study involving minors will be sent to or directed
to the designated parents or legal guardians of the minors
related to the study.
Notification
of Changes
If
we change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on
our website at:
http://www.GLM.com so that our Opinion
Panel members and survey respondents are always aware of
what information we collect, how we use it, and under what
circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If at any point
we decide to use personally identifiable information in a
manner different from that stated at the time it was
collected, we will notify users through an email or mailing.
Opinion Panel members will have a choice as to whether or
not we use their information in this different manner.
How
To Contact Us
Should
you have questions or concerns about these privacy policies,
please call us at our office telephone (419-534-4700) or
send us an email at info@GLM.com
Our
mailing address is:
Great
Lakes Marketing
3103
Executive Pkwy, Ste 106
Toledo,
OH 43606
(This
Privacy Policy is effective as of September 1, 2005.)
