Respondent Anonymity Assurance (RAA)

One of the challenges researchers face is the requirement for two directly conflicting issues

The ability to track respondents response status so reminders or follow up emails can be sent,
For human subjects protocols or for other privacy reasons, ensuring that email identifications not be linked to the response data.

From a technical standpoint, if we need to track who has taken the survey and who has not, the survey researcher also implicitly has the ability to track the response for each individual. To overcome this issue, the Respondent Anonymity Assurance has been introduced. QuestionPro asserts that once RAA is enabled on a survey, although computer generated identification numbers for individuals will be generated, the survey researcher will not have access to both the respondent's email address as well as the response data at the same time. for more information please visit: Respondent Anonymity Assurance

The Survey should be distributed using QuestionPro Email Management and the Survey Tracking link should be used for distribution.

What assertions does QuestionPro make for RAA-enabled surveys?

Once the RAA is enabled for a survey, at the request of the survey researcher, it will remain perpetual and cannot be rescinded -- by the researcher or anyone else.
The QuestionPro Survey Software will never present a respondent's email address linked to the response data in any of the analysis tools, reports and data downloads.
In the exceptionally unlikely event that a breach occurs for any reason, technical or otherwise, QuestionPro will immediately notify the respondent as well as the survey researcher about the issue. If the respondent requests his response data to be removed from the servers as a result of the breach, QuestionPro will comply with the request even if the survey researcher does not agree. Furthermore, QuestionPro will make all reasonable efforts to make sure that such a breach does not occur again.

How do I enable RAA for my survey?

Go to: Login » Surveys (select a survey) » Edit » Settings

Enable the toggle switch for Respondents Anonymity Assurance

On the popup, confirm that you wish to neable RAA. Once enabled, it is not possible to disable RAA.

I have tracking information passed as custom variables. Can I hide it? (SSO authenticated survey)

Yes. You can hide information stored in custom variables 1-5. To do so, enable the option Mask Custom Variables 1-5 This will hide/block information stored in custom variables 1 to 5. You will still be able to use logic as well as filtering in aggregate.

How do I know if a survey I am taking is protected by RAA?

For surveys that have RAA enabled, a link to the details about the guarantee will be put on the footer of the survey. This link cannot be removed or added by the survey researcher. It will be automatically added on surveys that have the anonymity guarantee enabled. Once this link is enabled it cannot be removed, changed or edited.