Kantar Operations undertakes social and market research interviewing and the subsequent processing of results for Kantar's research businesses including Added Value, Millward Brown and TNS.

The purpose of market research is to obtain facts and opinions from representative groups of individuals in a systematic and objective way. The information is obtained via a survey that can be administered wither in person, over the telephone, a mobile device or the internet. The results are by businesses, public bodies or government departments to guide the development of their products, policies and services.

Social research is commissioned by central government and other public bodies such as health authorities, charities and local government to discover what individuals think about existing services, policies or social conditions and to help develop new policies. It is also used to gauge the public's reaction to concepts of new services, to look for changing patterns in society and to assess the impact of information campaigns. As with market research, social research surveys are designed to obtain facts and opinions from representative groups of individuals in a systematic and objective way.

Genuine market research/social research will never try to sell you anything or ask you for a donation. Its purpose is to establish facts and opinions from representative samples of individuals in order to provide guidance for decision making. In contrast, the purpose of direct marketing is to make sales. 

Surveys are designed to ensure that we interview a representative cross section of the population appropriate to the survey. You may be asked to take part in a survey based on where you live, your age or the products you use. All participation is voluntary.

Market research surveys are designed to interview a defined number of people in different groups (e.g. 500 adults aged 18 to 45 who have drunk at least 10 cups of coffee in the past 7 days).  There will be occasions when an individual that we contact will not be eligible for the recruitment criteria of the survey.

Disclosing the name of the company may bias the results of the survey. There are questions such as spontaneous awareness that would be directly impacted if we were to mention the name of the client commissioning the research.

Your answers will be combined with those of other survey participants to provide the client with % based data in an anonymised format. For example, of the 500 coffee drinkers we interviewed, 55% preferred Brand X, 42% preferred Brand Y and 3% had no preference.

Personal details are required so we can validate that interviews have been conducted according to the required professional standards and that you were satisfied with the way the interview was carried out. It is possible therefore that you may be contacted by phone, letter or in person after an interview has taken place. The handling of personal information is always conducted according to prevailing privacy legislation.  

No, the answers you provide are never linked to information that would identify you individually.  

No. Kantar Operations, in common with other genuine social and market research , will never sell or pass your personal details to commercial organisations for the purposes of direct mail or any type of sales activity. 

No junk mail or direct marketing materials will be sent to you after taking part in a survey. Participation in a genuine survey will never result in a sales call being made to your home or business and will never be used to build a sales and marketing database.

Market research and social research companies are permitted to call numbers that are registered with the Telephone Preference Service for the purposes of conducting surveys. This is to ensure we deliver representative samples to our clients when carrying out market and social research.
However all companies looking to sell their products and services over the phone must exclude individuals who are registered with the Telephone Preference Survey. Genuine market research companies are exempt from this requirement because they are only looking to obtain opinions and are not looking to sell.

There is an important difference between sales and market research under federal law. Legitimate research calls will never attempt to sell you anything, as researchers are only interested in asking for your opinion. As a result, all telephone survey research is exempt from federal telemarketing laws, including the requirement to comply with Do Not Call lists.

You may obtain free information about telephone consumer rights from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In the United Kingdom, Kantar Operations follows the Code of Conduct of the Market Research Society (MRS) and ESOMAR and complies with all Data Protection/Human Rights legislation.  Kantar Operations North America adheres to similar principles  through the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) and its Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research.  Kantar Operations India is a member of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) and subscribes to the MRSI Code of Conduct. Kantar Operations@WNS is a member of NASSCOM, the industry association of software companies in India.