Ethical information

At The Social Study, we prioritize safeguarding the personal information of our panel members. We uphold strict confidentiality standards and comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and national data protection laws. This page details how we collect and store panel members’ information.

Data from each survey is carefully pseudonymized by assigning a unique identification code to every panel member

The pseudonymized data files are securely stored in the archive.

The pseudonymized data files are available for scientific use by approved researchers, policy makers, and others interested in information about the Belgian population.

Access to the data will require an approved application and data use agreement. More information can be found at the TSS Data page.

The results of research conducted with the TSS panel will be published on the TSS website and in the newsletter. A summary can also be found on social media. Our top priority is to ensure that no panelist is identifiable in any results or publications based on the study.

What gives us the right to collect personal data?

We operate under the lawful bases of being a task in the public interest and necessary for research and archiving purposes, in compliance with both the General Data Protection Regulation and national laws.

Ethical information for researchers who wish to collect data with TSS

To ensure that ethical standards are met, researchers must have their proposed study approved by the ethical review board of their institution, and provide a certificate of approval during submission. We offer a template containing all necessary ethical information to streamline this process for researchers.

Those without access to an ethical review board can consult the KU Leuven ethical review board.

Contacts

For questions regarding research ethics within TSS, please contact:
info@thesocialstudy.be

All privacy-related aspects of this research are co-monitored by a Data Protection Officer:
Data Protection Officer (NL): dpo@kuleuven.be
Data Protection Officer (FR): rgpd@ulb.be

For more information about (the processing of) personal data, please visit:
Data Protection Authority (see www.dataprotectionauthority.be)