MRA Guidelines Mark Data Privacy Day

In the US, the Marketing Research Association (MRA) has released a set of best practices for survey and opinion research, in recognition of Data Privacy Day which takes place tomorrow.

The second annual event, which will be celebrated in the US, Canada and 27 European countries, was created to generate discussion about data privacy practices and rights.

MRA's new, one-page best practice papers include information on privacy policies, data disposal, e-mail and spam, the EU data directive and financial privacy.

Each features guidance vetted by industry leaders and MRA volunteers, to help researchers legally and ethically navigate the relationship between themselves, respondents and regulators.

The Association's Director of Government Affairs, Howard Fienberg, commented: 'Protection of consumer and data privacy is the cornerstone of the research business. This worldwide celebration is the perfect occasion to forge new and better relations with respondents and reinforce the research profession's standing with legislators and regulators.'

All the MRA best practice one pagers can be found at: www.cmor.org/ga/bestpractices.cfm .

Other organisations including CASRO also publish guidelines for companies sending email invites and handling respondent data.

The MRA recently predicted that data security and data breach notification would be one of the main concerns for the research profession during 2009.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.