Blog – Latest stories tagged 'online'

The legal and ethical issues of completing online surveys

I’m not sure about you, but in these times, it seems that a day doesn’t pass by without either a pop-up occurring on a website that I happen to be browsing, asking me if I would complete a survey or an unsolicited post appearing on my Facebook newsfeed making the same request – usually, however, these are cunningly disguised as ‘clickbait’ to a potentially interesting article. Now, probably, if you are like me, you ignore these requests, but there are people out there who do complete them, otherwise why would companies spend so much money writing them and persistently sending them out as part of their endeavours to discover our habits and ‘likes’ so that they can hone their advertising campaign?

But what are the legal and ethical issues of completing these online surveys?

To companies, online surveys present a number of potential benefits:

To us, the humble participant however, the online survey is something that we should have a healthy wariness of.

One large area of concern when completing online surveys is personal Internet security. When a company requests that you complete a survey for them, they may also ask you to accept a ‘cookie’ from them. Unfortunately, this is not a tasty chocolate biscuit, but a snippet of code that is generated by the company’s web server and stored on a participant’s computer after they agree to accept the cookie. It then tracks the user’s browsing habits and sends this information back to the company for them to use in their targeted online advertising. This is how Facebook displays adverts and sponsored postings that miraculously all appear to be within user’s areas of interest.

Another issue with a number of online survey services is that of confidentiality. This is due to the ability to share survey accounts between numerous account holders and therefore a situation could arise whereby you complete one survey attached to an account, but not only can the author of that specific survey see your information, but anyone with access to the account (who may not necessarily be part of that particular survey project) can also see it.

When completing surveys, it is imperative that any survey provides an introductory page that allows you to specifically state your consent for the information that you offer, as well as clear and concise information about how the data will be used. If this consent is not asked for then, legally, the information cannot be used. The introductory page to a good survey should also give clear and obvious warnings if it covers potentially sensitive areas and should refer to sources of further support and information on the issues.

Two other areas that participants in surveys should be aware of, is their right to withdrawal and their right to omit certain information. You should always have the ability to exit the survey at any point but you should be aware that any responses up to that point maybe retained. If you don’t wish for this to occur then you could backtrack through the survey and erase any answers you have made. Surveys should always offer you the option of not providing a response to any question, in other words you should not feel pressured or intimidated into thinking that you have got to provide an answer to a question.

As a consequence of the popularity of online surveys, more people are participating; however, this has caused a rise in the number of people giving false or fraudulent information within surveys. For instance, giving a believable, but false name, may not necessarily cause a problem, but giving incorrect addresses can lead to severe consequences. This is due the common habit of people giving the address of their local shop, school or even the address of their neighbours as their own. If this is discovered, there is a possibility that legal action could be brought against the perpetrator. There is also one survey (although it is not be online at present) that you are legally bound to complete correctly and that is the National Census – complete this fraudulently and, if you are found out, you will be in serious trouble.

There are also non-legal reasons for not giving false information on surveys. A lot of companies use given details to send out sample products or even to take part in prize draws, so if you give a false name and address you may never benefit from these offers.

Online surveys are now part of our digital lives and despite being annoying and irritating to some people, it’s unlikely that marketing departments will stop using them in the near future and therefore, it is up to you and I - the digital public, to be savvy about what we should and shouldn’t be presented with when we are requested to complete an online survey.

We are delighted to announce that the e-safety training modules available to E-safety Support Premium Plus members can now be distributed in 3 ways:

1 - Presentation mode
Presentation mode is designed for a teacher or instructor to lead a class or group through the course. They may do this with a small group around a single computer, or with a larger group using a projector, whiteboard or large screen.

2 - Link mode
Link mode is designed to allow multiple candidates to work through the course as individuals. In this mode you generate a link which you can share via your school's email system, email newsletter, internal network or printed newsletter. Each prospective candidate uses the same link and when they follow it the system will ask them to enter their name to create an individual record.

3 - Email distribution mode
Email distribution mode is designed to allow multiple candidates to work through the course as individuals. In this mode the system will send out an email invitation to each of your desired candidates and monitor their progress. In order to use this mode you will need to import the names and email addresses of your contacts into your E-safety Support account.

Record training and monitor responses
The simple to use distribution manager will record all of your training activity via your dashboard. In link mode and distribution mode, you can monitor all the candidates who have completed their course and every candidate can print a certificate of completion.

Unlimited usage
All of the training courses come included in the Premium Plus package with unlimited use - there are no extra per-user costs. This means you can distribute the training to as many staff, parents, governors and pupils as you need and repeat as often as necessary. Further details of the courses currently available can be found on our online e-safety training page.

Full previews available
Full previews of the online e-safety training courses are available to all E-safety Support members, simply login to your dashboard or join free now.

In the final E-safety Support article of the year, we thought it would be an ideal opportunity to look back at some of the major news stories and events that have shaped the world of e-safety during 2014.

In January, the Christmas sales figures reported the huge increase in sales of tablet devises, changing the way many young people interact with the online environment. Unsurprisingly then, the biggest trend on display at the 2014 Bett show was that of implementing these devises into education.

February saw the 11th annual Safer Internet Day. Activities were held across the UK and reached millions. We are of course, looking forward to the event again in 2015. February also saw the fleeting internet craze, Nek-Nominate. This saw many young people taking sometimes fatal risks in order to go one better than their predecessors in this online phenomenon.

In March, a new NSPCC report found that 28% of children aged 11-16 with a profile on a social networking site have experienced something upsetting on it in the last year. In other news, teachers too were once again recognised by unions as needing ‘rules’ for social media usage. However, the positive side of social media was also recognised when the ‘no make-up selfie’ campaign raised millions for charity.

At the beginning of April, Ofsted released their latest inspecting e-safety briefing document containing suggestions for good and outstanding practice in this area. This report was to be later removed from the public domain, although the requirement for a robust e-safety provision in schools was still very much on the Ofsted agenda.

May saw the emergence of ‘Creepshots’, websites that operate like social networking media sites where members are encouraged to post photos that have been taken possibly without consent or knowledge of the person in them. May was also the month when the European Union set a major precedent over what is now referred to as the "right to be forgotten".

Slenderman made an appearance in June, the disturbing Internet creation that is being blamed for a series of near fatal stabbings. In other news in June, Facebook announced plans for a platform for children under 13 to have social networking profile. A report from AGV found that almost 80% of parents blame the Internet for forcing the 'Facts of Life' conversation. It was also suggested that contrary to popular opinion, children's unorthodox spelling and grammar while texting does not stop them learning the rules of formal English.

July saw the launch of Friendly WiFi. Friendly WiFi is the world’s first accreditation scheme designed to verify whether a business’ public Wi-Fi service meets a minimum level of filtering to block out access to pornographic and child abuse websites. This brand new service aims to protect young people when they access the Internet using Wi-Fi hotspots in cafes, restaurants etc.

In August, a study by Oxford University saw the positive side of gaming, suggesting that playing video games for a short period each day could have a small but positive impact on child development. Also in August, Ofcom announced figures which suggested that six-year-olds understand digital technology better than adults.

In September, The Telegraph reported that parents feel more confident talking to their children about notoriously tricky topics like the birds and the bees, puberty and race than they do about how to use the internet safely – and some plan to avoid it, despite admitting its importance. In related news, parents were encouraged to pay more attention to the apps their children download after new research found that nearly a third do not monitor the downloads their children make to their smartphones.

News in October reported that teenagers sending each other sexually explicit messages and images – known as sexting – is increasingly becoming a “normal” part of growing up. However, they were also warned about the risks and potential legal issues surrounding sexting. It was also in October when the leak of images from the popular app Snapchat (which became known as the ‘Snappening’) put the privacy of many young people at risk.

As we reached November, many schools and organisations geared up for Anti-Bullying Week. With more and more children owning mobile devices and spending longer online and on social media, cyber bullying is becoming one of the most common forms of bullying. The annual event organised by the Anti Bullying Alliance saw many activities across the UK.

And finally, in December, the Prime Minister spoke at the #We Protect Children Online summit to commit to tackling online safety. David Cameron revealed details of 3 main strategies to tackle online child exploitation; blocking internet search terms, identifying illegal images and Global child protection and laws.

Looking back, it’s been an eventful year, with the world of e-safety evolving and online trends coming and going in a flash. We expect 2015 to be no different, so will be continuing to support you and your school with up-to-date news and information about the e-safety issues that affect you.