The Survey Research Centre at the University of Waterloo conducts telephone, online, mail and face-to face surveys for academic research purposes. You may have been contacted recently to complete one of our surveys. Please be assured that we are not telemarketers nor do we ask for money.
Frequently asked questions and answers:
How did you get my phone number?
To achieve high standards of research data quality, most studies require contacting a random sample of the general public. If you received a telephone call from us, we likely obtained your number from a list that was randomly generated by a computer and do not have any information about your household other than the phone number. For some studies, such as customer satisfaction surveys, we may have been provided with a list of possible participants by the researchers.
Telephone surveys are conducted by live, trained interviewers who use a centralized computer-assisted telephone interviewing system. To ensure the quality of the data collected, supervisors may monitor interviews in progress.
We may call a phone number as many as 10 times during a study. This may happen on varying days of the week and at different times of the day in an attempt to reach someone to complete one of our surveys.
Why is the University of Waterloo showing up on my telephone call display?
We may call a phone number as many as 10 times during a study. This may happen on varying days of the week and at different times of the day in an attempt to reach someone to complete one of our surveys.
The Survey Research Centre is only one department at the University of Waterloo that may be contacting you. It is possible that you may receive phone calls from other departments such as Alumni Relations. The University of Waterloo will show up on your call display if a call is made from any department within the University.
Why do you want to conduct a survey with my household?
For most of our surveys, collecting a cross section of opinions from the general public is very important, no matter whether you know a lot, or very little, about the survey topic. There are no right or wrong answers and you do not have to answer any questions that you don’t want to. Many of our survey respondents find the surveys to be fun and informative.
Your opinion is very important to us. The results from the surveys are often used to help decision makers such as government agencies, health agencies and academic institutions to form policies and improve services for the public.
Who will see the data that you collect from my household?
All the information that you provide will be kept completely confidential. Only the researchers involved in the project will have access to the data. The data are de-identified by the Survey Research Centre prior to giving it to the researchers, so even the researchers will not be able to connect survey responses to specific households. When the results are reported, survey answers are grouped so that individual participants and their answers cannot be identified.
If the data are confidential, why do you ask for my name?
We only need your first name so that we are able to keep track of survey respondents during the random selection process. If you are not available to do the survey at the time that we call, we can then call back at a more convenient time. Knowing your first name makes it easier, and more polite, when we call back.
Why do you ask for the person in my household with the next birthday?
When conducting a survey that requires a random sample of the general population, we need to be able to give every adult in the household a chance to be selected for the survey. Thus we cannot always decide to speak to the first person who answers the phone. In order to give every adult in the household a chance to be selected, we ask to speak to the adult in the household with the next birthday since any adult living in the household could have the next birthday.
Has the study been approved?
Most of the studies that are conducted by the Survey Research Centre have received ethics clearance through a research ethics committee from at least one ethics review board, and this will be stated in the introduction to the survey. Most studies conducted by researchers from the University of Waterloo have received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo research ethics committee.
Where can I get more information about one of your surveys?
You are welcome to email us or call our call centre toll-free at 1-866-303-2822 to leave a message. We would be happy to provide you with the contact name and information of the study researchers.
My phone number is registered on the national “Do not call list”, why are you calling me?
As a research centre, we are exempt from the National Do Not Call List operated by the Government of Canada. We are not telemarketers, nor do we ask for money. In fact, we occasionally offer incentives to people who are eligible and willing to complete some of our surveys. If you are not interested in completing a survey with us and would like to be added to our own internal "do not call list", please fill out the opt out form or call us toll-free at 1-866-303-2822 to leave a message. Please provide the phone number that we contacted - including the area code - to ensure you don't receive any more unwanted calls from the Survey Research Centre.
How can I opt out of survey research?
If you are not interested in completing a survey with us, please fill out the opt out form or call us toll-free at 1-866-303-2822 to leave a message. Please include the phone number (including the area code), email or mail address that was contacted in your message to ensure you don't receive any more unwanted contact from the Survey Research Centre. Please allow 2-3 business days before your contact information is removed from our list.
