Please read these terms and conditions of involvement carefully. You will need to comply with these terms as well as any instructions in your invite in order to receive your incentive payment.
If you cannot take part in research which you have agreed to complete, please contact us on 0161 234 9940 as soon as possible.
Participation in market research is voluntary and you may withdraw at any time. If you choose to withdraw for any reason, you may forfeit any incentive / honorarium payment.
Payments are usually made within a maximum of 15 working days of receiving your bank details (BACS).
The payment method is as described at the project outset and cannot be changed at the participants request. Typically, most incentive / honorarium payments are by BACS or gift voucher. Where payments are made in person in Cash, a signature will be required along with an identity document.
Acumen Fieldwork organises market research on behalf of our clients (usually research companies). The client is the party who you will interact with on projects. Acumen will only make incentive payments upon confirmation from the client that you are eligible for a payment.
Acumen Fieldwork is not always directly responsible for making incentive payments – you will be advised where this is the case.
The name of the receiving account for incentive payments must be the name of the person taking part in research, unless the participant was under 16 and a parent’s bank details have been provided.
Where incorrect bank details have been provided to us for incentive payments, payments made to incorrect bank accounts may not be possible to recover and in this event will not be reissued.
Research should be completed honestly. Where we suspect that research has been completed dishonestly or fraudulently, we reserve the right not to pay incentives and to cancel your participation.
General
Non-completion of pre-tasks or research communities will result in cancellation of your participation on a project.
We ask that participants are polite to all involved in the research project. Abuse to anybody involved in the research, whether a fellow participant, moderator or member of our staff will result in immediate cancellation of your participation without payment.
Mobile phones should be switched off or set to silent throughout the session. In certain research circumstances you may be asked to turn your phone completely off or to leave it locked elsewhere. This may be to protect intellectual property which is being shared with you.
Please arrive 15 minutes before the start time for face-to-face research and 5-10 minutes before start for online research. Late arrival to research sessions may result in cancellation of your participation without payment.
The majority of research projects stipulate that you must not have participated in any qualitative research in the preceding 6 months. Not disclosing prior research may result in your cancellation from the project.
For face-to-face research sessions:
Bring a form of photo ID with you – without this you may not be able to participate and will not receive your incentive.
Please do not bring children or other people with you unless they have also been invited to the session.
Ensure that you have reading glasses with you if required
If invited to a group research session, ensure that you make contributions when required. In order to achieve an incentive payment, you need to make contributions and engage with the conversation.
For online research sessions, surveys and pre tasks
Access the research using the device you were instructed to use on your invitation. The research platform may not work with other devices.
Ensure that you are in a quiet space, free from distraction or intrusion by others in your household.
Ensure that you make contributions when required. In order to achieve an incentive payment, you need to make contributions and engage with the conversation.
Pre tasks must be completed in full. If you don’t complete the pre task in full or at all, you may not be able to get the full (or any) incentive payment and may be cancelled off the project. This is at the client’s discretion.
Where, when required, you have stopped participating in research, you will be contacted a maximum of 3 times such as via phone, text or email where the time frame allows. Where the time frame does not allow it you may contacted fewer times. Failure to respond and ‘catch’ up with the research (where it is possible to catch up and when asked) will result in cancellation of your participation without payment.
Cancellation or Postponement of sessions:
Where research sessions are cancelled or postponed, we will aim to provide as much notice as possible. You will not receive payment when sessions are cancelled or postponed with more than 24 hours’ notice.
Where research sessions are cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice, we will endeavour to provide full or partial incentive payment but this is at the discretion of the client and may not be possible.
It is common practice to over-recruit for research in order to ensure that the session can go ahead with minimum impact from last minute cancellations or participants who do not complete pre-tasks. On occasion this may mean that you are turned away from a research session. Decisions on who to turn away are made by the moderator and are final. You will usually be paid in full if turned away on the day.
Recordings
Most research sessions are recorded in some form and we will provide information about recording during the screening call, on your invitation and at the time of the research. Please ask the project manager or moderator if you require further information about the purpose, use or storage of research recordings.
Recruitment is conducted in accordance with the Market Research Society – you can contact the Market Research Society to verify our details on 0800 975 9596.
These terms are conditions may vary from project to project – you will be advised of any special terms on your invitation.
Acumen Field Limited reserves the right to change these terms and conditions.
