Alterline is a full-service research and evaluation agency. Our registered office is International House, 61 Mosley Street, Manchester, England, M2 3HZ and our company registration number is 07426250.
Your privacy is important to us. In this policy, you will find information about how we collect, use and share information, and how you can exercise your rights regarding any information we may hold about you.
In the case of any conflict between this privacy statement and the laws in your jurisdiction, the relevant national laws will take precedence.
If you would like any further information about this policy, please contact our Data Protection Lead at: privacy@alterline.co.uk
Why have we contacted you and where did we get your contact details?
Research respondents
We carry out market and social research and evaluation projects, either independently or on behalf of one or more clients. If we have contacted you, it will be because:
- You have previously consented to be contacted by us for the purposes of taking part in research; or
- an organisation (our clients) you have a relationship with (now or in the past), either as a student, customer, member or service user has shared your contact information with us for the purposes of conducting research on their behalf.
When you share your contact information with us directly, Alterline acts as the data controller of that information. When our clients share your contact details with us, Alterline will act as the data processor of that data and will only process that data in accordance with the instructions received from our client.
Our clients will sometimes give us additional information about you, such as your demographic information. This will only be used for the purposes of selecting appropriate people to take part in the research or for analysis purposes. In this instance, Alterline will act as the joint data controller of this data.
Clients or business contacts
We may contact you as part of delivering our services or to tell you about published research, collaborative research projects, our services, upcoming events, or just to keep in touch. We only send you information about things that will be of genuine interest to you.
We collect information about clients and other business contacts:
- when you contact us to ask about our services
- when we attend conferences and face-to-face or virtual meetings
- using public sources such as LinkedIn or websites
- when someone else from your organisation provides us with your information.
Alterline acts as the data controller of the information we hold about you.
What information do we collect about you?
Research respondents
The type of personal data we process will vary with each research project. As an indicator, this might include:
- Your name and contact details
- Your opinions
- Your age, gender or other demographic information
- Your IP address, device type and which type of web browser you are using (during online surveys).
Some of our projects require us to collect and process sensitive personal data to meet their research aims. This includes information about your race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life, or sexual orientation. When this is the case, we will obtain your explicit consent.
When you provide us with data through our research projects, we act as either the sole data controller (for research conducted without a client) or joint data controller (for research conducted on behalf of one or more clients).
We will always inform you when research in being conducted on behalf of one or more clients and, in the majority of cases, you will be informed who our clients are at the outset of a research project. In some circumstances, it is appropriate to conduct research projects “blind” (i.e. when we don’t tell you who it is on behalf of because knowing that may impact how you respond to the research). When this is the case, you will be provided with our client’s name once you have finished participating and informed at the outset that this is the case.
Clients or business contacts
Depending on your relationship with us, we may hold:
- Your name, job title and contact details
- Your purchase history
- Details from meetings you have attended with us or emails you have sent us.
What is our legal basis for collecting personal information?
Research respondents
The legal basis for processing your personal data as part of a research project varies on a project-by-project basis. Typically, it is based on your consent or our legitimate interests.
While we endeavour to use explicit consent where possible, we recognise that this is not always possible, particularly when we are working with children or in cases where there may be an imbalance of power (such as when the client we work on behalf of holds decision-making power over you). Please note, that consent to collect and process your personal data under data protection legislation is distinct from our ethical obligation to obtain informed consent from you to take part in our research, which we would do in all circumstances.
If we are using consent as our legal basis, we will establish it and make a record of it at the start of your engagement with us.
In the case of legitimate interests, we will rely on our legitimate interests to collect personal data used for research and evaluation purposes through the course of our operation as a business that provides market and social research and evaluation services.
Clients or business contacts
If you are currently working with us or have asked us to provide a quotation for work, we are contacting you for contractual purposes.
If we are using your data to provide you with information about our business or services or to enquire about your business or services, we are doing so because it is in our legitimate interest to do so. Our legitimate interest is either to market our products and services to business contacts or to procure products and services to enable our work.
How will personal data be used?
Research respondents
The ways in which we use personal data will vary from project to project. These activities include:
- Contacting you to invite you to participate in research or evaluation projects
- Reviewing your suitability to take part in a project, based on the characteristics required for that project
- Reviewing written responses you have provided us or audio and/or video recordings (where you explicitly consent to record has been obtained) of your participation in a project
- Follow-up correspondence with you after you have taken part, including signposting to support services (if appropriate) or sharing research results (if offered during the project)
- Incorporating information about you into research reports, which may be publicly available (with your explicit prior consent only)
- Sending you incentives which were promised to you to thank you for your participation in our research
- To contact you if you win a prize draw we are running.
If our client shared your personal information with us, we only share information relating to you back to them to support them to comply with their obligations under data privacy legislation, to allow the client to address a query that you have raised which relates to their business operations, or because a safeguarding concern has arisen.
Clients or business contacts
The ways in which we may use your data include:
- Contacting you to facilitate the operation of a project you have commissioned us to do
- Telling you about our products and services
- Telling you about events we are running
- Contacting you to request information about your services or a quotation for your services.
Who has access to your personal data?
Research respondents
When you take part in a research project, we may also use third-party systems for the administration of this, such as a survey provider. We will let you know which third-party systems we are using for a specific project when you take part.
While Alterline conducts the vast majority of its research work internally, where necessary, we may use a carefully selected network of third-party partners to support with project delivery such as support with recruitment, fieldwork, transcription, translation or data analysis.
If our work is being undertaken on behalf of one or more clients, we may share pseudonymised data you provided us during the course of taking part in our research with that project’s client(s), unless we have your explicit consent to share this data alongside your directly identifiable information.
Clients or business contacts
Only Alterline employees would have access to your information, and we would never share your information without your prior written consent. Information may be stored on Dropbox. We also use Pipedrive and Mailchimp as processors for the purposes of maintaining accurate records and sending mailings. These providers may transfer your data outside of the UK but only to countries where an adequacy decision has been made and, in the case of the United States of America, where it is transferred under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
How long do we keep your data?
Research respondents
Personal data we hold, use or process about you will only be kept as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes in this policy. In order to allow us to respond to any post-project requests from our client(s) or research respondents, our default period for directly identifiable information is 12 months after the project finishes. Pseudonymised research data may be retained for up to five years after the project ends, at which point it is either securely deleted or anonymised.
The exception will be if you give consent to recontact you for the purposes of general further research. In which case, we will retain your contact information alongside any demographic information, until you withdraw your consent or we have not received a response to our research invitations for three years. All information is securely deleted after this point.
Clients or business contacts
We keep your information as long as we believe that you may have an interest in our products or services or until you request us to stop processing your information.
Your rights
Regardless of whether you are a research participant, client or business contact, under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These include the right to:
- Access data we hold about you
- Request that we correct incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you
- Request that we delete or remove personal data we hold about you when there is no good reason for us to continue to process it
- Object to us processing your data, when we rely on a legitimate interest of ours to do so, or withdraw your consent for us to use your data, when we rely on your consent to do so
- Request that we restrict the processing of your personal data
- Request the transfer of your personal data to you or a third party.
To exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact privacy@alterline.co.uk
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to at privacy@alterline.co.uk
If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you have the right to complain to a supervisory authority in your local jurisdiction.
Last review date: 06/02/2026