Standards & Practices

Professional Standards

Wakefield Research is dedicated to providing our clients with ethical and best-in-class research. We strictly adhere to the Code of Professional Ethics and Practices set forth by the American Association for Public Opinion Research:

• We shall exercise due care in developing research designs and survey instruments, and in collecting, processing, and analyzing data, taking all reasonable steps to assure the reliability and validity of results.

• We shall recommend and employ only those tools and methods of analysis that, in our professional judgment, are well suited to the research problem at hand.

• We shall not knowingly select research tools and methods of analysis that yield misleading conclusions.

• We shall not knowingly make interpretations of research results that are inconsistent with the data available, nor shall we tacitly permit such interpretations.

• We shall not knowingly imply that interpretations should be accorded greater confidence than the data actually warrant.

• We shall describe our methods and findings accurately and in appropriate detail in all research reports.

• We shall avoid practices or methods that may harm, humiliate, or seriously mislead survey respondents.
• We shall respect respondents’ concerns about their privacy.

• We shall provide all persons selected for inclusion with a description of the survey sufficient to permit them to make an informed and free decision about their participation.

• We shall not misrepresent our research or conduct other activities (such as sales, fundraising, or political campaigning) under the guise of conducting research.

• Unless the respondent waives confidentiality for specified uses, we shall hold as privileged and confidential all information that might identify a respondent with his or her responses. We also shall not disclose or use the names of respondents for non-research purposes unless the respondents grant us permission to do so.

Document Non-Retention

Wakefield Research also retains a strict document non-retention/destruction policy for all projects unless otherwise agreed to in writing at project commencement. This means that hard copies of background and/or research materials (including but not limited to papers, CD-ROMs, DVDs, poster boards, product packaging, product samples, and prototypes) are retained for a period of 10 business days following delivery of the final research report by Wakefield. After that period, materials are destroyed by shredding or other proven means to destroy such media.

Let's Work Together

For media inquiries, email media@wakefieldresearch.com. For all other inquiries, including requests for proposals, or to speak with a member of our staff, please fill out our form.