To help us to understand the needs of our customers we will, from time to time, carry out market and social research surveys and qualitative research. This includes focus groups and in-depth interviews with customers, their families and/or the adults who are responsible for them.
Carrying out market research helps us make better decisions about which services to deliver and where they are needed, by understanding the needs of our customers.
You will be informed in the service-specific privacy notice if this applies to your personal information.
What happens when we contact you
We may contact you to ask whether you are willing to participate in a market research survey and/or qualitative research. Your decision about whether or not to participate will not affect the services that you receive from West Sussex County Council.
We may ask a market research agency and/or independent qualitative researcher to undertake the research on our behalf. Any third party we use will be acting on our behalf as our data processor and will adhere to the data protection regulations. Your details will not be used for direct marketing purposes.
We value engagement with you and when you contribute your views, we ask your permission to use your contact data to reach out to you with further information which may be of interest.
If you agree, your name and contact data will be kept in a directory within the Communications and Engagement team. You be able to unsubscribe from the directory at any time.
We are sometimes contacted by university students wanting to carry out research amongst our customers and/or staff as part of their coursework, dissertation or thesis.
All such applications are subject to our quality assurance and research governance approval process. This includes approval from the relevant ethics committees, such as the Health Research Authority, where appropriate.