Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC, established in 2009, is a market research and user experience design firm headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA. Through primary research, Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC aids clients in understanding the requirements and preferences of their clients.
First and foremost, Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of personal information of all research participants and visitors to our website. We are not a marketing company and do not conduct sales or direct marketing, nor do we provide personal information to be used for direct contact sales or marketing purposes. Sentier Strategic Resources will respect the legal requirements that exist regarding the privacy of personal information and we are committed to complying with all applicable laws around the world. Sentier Strategic Resources periodically reviews its personal information collection, use and disclosure practices to assure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
This policy defines the commitment of Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC to protect the privacy of personal information that is collected or used during the course of conducting research activities. Sentier Strategic Resources will, and will cause its affiliates to, establish and maintain business procedures that are consistent with this policy.
Purpose and use of information
Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC adheres to the Code of Standards established by The Insights Association, a professional association that sets the guidelines and standards for the insights and analytics profession. These standards include requirements for the protection of personal information and information that can/may identify a respondent. For more information on The Insights Association and the Code of Standards, please visit https://www.insightsassociation.org.
Sentier Strategic Resources will maintain procedures to assure that sensitive or personally identifiable information ("Personal Information") is only collected with explicit consent and is protected against improper use, consistent with applicable law. Personal information provided to Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC is considered confidential and is combined with information gathered from other research participants and is shown in aggregate unless otherwise evident (or indicated) within our surveys or in consent agreements required for participation in our studies. If we indicate that personal information may be included in the research findings, we ensure that the information will be treated according to the standards outlined in this Privacy Policy. Respondents are informed at the outset if an interview/discussion is being audio or video recorded by any means and will obtain written consent if the recorded interview/discussion will be viewed by a third party or reproduced for outside use. In the event that personally identifiable information is to be shared with a research client or its affiliates, the participant will be notified prior to sharing and provided an opportunity to opt-out of participation or discontinue with the research. If the participant opts-out, no personally identifiable information will be retained.
Choice and control
Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC respects the respondent’s right to withdraw or to refuse to cooperate at any stage of a research study and does not use any procedure or technique to coerce or imply that cooperation is obligatory. Participant cooperation is strictly on a voluntary basis. Participants are entitled to withdraw from any research effort at any stage or to refuse to cooperate in a research project.
Only information that is voluntarily provided is collected by Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC. This information is collected for the purpose of assisting us to know when a study might be a good fit for an individual based on demographics and/or other profile information. If you agree to participate in a research study, we may collect other demographic, firmographic, profile, preference or behavioral information in order to assist in accurately analyzing the data collected in the research study. We will never share your personal information with any third party without your express consent, except as noted in the “Subcontracted Research Support” section below.
Subcontracted research support
Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC may disclose personal information, including personally identifiable information, collected during research activities to data controllers or data processors contracted by Sentier Strategic Resources to perform or assist in the performance of research activities as specified by Sentier Strategic Resources (research support). Any subcontractors engaged by Sentier Strategic Resources is contractually obligated to comply with the principles set forth in this policy.
Any personal data transferred to a third party acting as an agent or controller may only be used for limited and specific purposes required by the research.
Personal information transferred to a third party acting as a data controller or agent must provide the same level of protection as applicable laws require.
Data types collected
The data types collected and purpose for collection:
Contact information: Some or all of the following – name, postal address, email address, and telephone number. Such actively submitted, personally identifiable information is used to reply to any information request or comment; to respond to survey technical support needs, or other communication that you, the survey participant, may direct to Sentier Strategic Resources, and to process incentive payments, if applicable. Other uses may include requests for information submitted to our web site voluntarily; contact information sent to Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC voluntarily, or provided directly to an employee of Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC for hiring, sales or administrative purposes; and requests to participate in research panels or databases with the purpose of sharing opinions and data for research purposes.
Self-reported survey research responses: Such information, usually collected via online surveys is reported in aggregate and reported without contact information for the purpose of providing market research guidance to our research clients.
Audio and video recordings: This data is most often collected in the qualitative research context during interviews or focus groups and used by research moderators and interviewers as a reference for research report writing and is not shared with research clients without explicit consent of research participant. In some types of market research, we use recordings for behavioral coding. The purpose of the behavioral coding information is to quantify and operationalize the activities that participants perform when interacting with a product or environment.
Online survey application passive electronic information: IP addresses are stored for the duration of a research study to avoid responder duplication and for data security purposes. Web browser user agent data is collected to indicate web browser client and version so that we can deliver the optimal survey experience to the research participant and debug any technical survey issues.
Psychophysiological and sensorimotor data: For certain research projects, we collect physiological data (e.g. electrodermal activity, heart rate, electromyography, electroencephalography and eye movement and gaze information) in response to stimuli. This information is used in aggregate form to provide additional insights to market research.
Data integrity
Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC limits the personal information that it processes to that which is relevant for the purposes of the particular data processing. Personal information is not processed in a way that is incompatible with the purposes for which it has been collected or subsequently authorized by the individual. To the extent necessary for these purposes, reasonable steps are taken to ensure that personal information is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete and current.
Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC retains personally identifiable information only for as long as it serves a purpose for processing.
Required disclosure of personal information
Under certain atypical circumstances, Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC may be required or permitted by law or court orders to collect, use, and/or disclose personal information and notice may not be required in some cases.
In the event that Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC participates in a sale, merger, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or acquisition of its company, the acquiring party would agree to be bound by the terms of the Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC Privacy Policy before any information would be transferred.
Personal information may also be disclosed when consent or survey instruments clearly state that the information will be disclosed or, when a participant makes a request during the research that can only be fulfilled by disclosing information from these documents.
Data collected when visiting our website
Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC, via Sentier.com, may collect certain information automatically when you use our website, including without limitation Log files, Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, ISP, browser language, the date and time of your request, operating system, referring/exiting pages, clickstream data, and plug-in information. We may also collect other browsing information, such as date and time you visited our Site, number of pages you viewed, time in seconds you spend on each page. We use this information to analyze web traffic to our site. We do not sell this information to any third party or use it to contact you directly.
If you are visiting our website from a country other than the country in which our servers are located, your communications with us will result in the transfer of information across international boundaries. By visiting our website and communicating electronically with us, you consent to such cross-border transfers.
Our website may also contain other links to external websites, and areas where you can provide information to third parties. These are provided for your convenience only, and we do not have control over the content or privacy and security practices and policies of such third parties or third-party sites. Any personal information you provide in such areas, and on such linked pages, is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party’s privacy policy. Please learn about the privacy and security practices and policies of external websites and third-parties before providing them with personal information.
Security of information
At Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC, we are committed to keeping personal data secure and take all reasonable precautions to protect personal information from loss, misuse or alteration. Data is stored on our internal network servers that are protected by firewalls or cloud servers that use encryption to protect data as well as other appropriate security mechanisms. However, we cannot guarantee the security of information on or transmitted via the Internet. We rely on various security procedures and systems to ensure the secure storage and transmission of data, including encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties, to effect secure transmission of confidential information. Additionally, we have absolutely no control over the security of other sites you might visit, interact with, or do business with.
Our website or research software may include hyperlinks to websites outside of the Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC domain, therefore we recommend that you read the Privacy Policy or Statement for each site visited, as data collection privacy policies may vary on hyperlinked sites not owned by Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC.
If we learn of a security systems breach, we may attempt to notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps, by posting a notice on the Site if a security and/or sending an email to you at the email address you have previously provided to us. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. To receive a free written notice of a security breach, or to withdraw your consent from receiving electronic notice, you should notify us.
Children’s privacy
As part of our internal policies to safeguard our respondents' personal information and in adherence to the marketing research industry's recruiting best practices, Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC does not knowingly make direct contact with children under the age of 18 to participate in research studies. If we require participation in a research study from children under the age of 18, we will first contact the parent or legal guardian to arrange and determine eligibility of children for the research as well as encourage the parent or legal guardian to closely monitor and participate in the research activities. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child whose information is stored in our systems, you may at any time request to review, in its entirety, the information of your child which we have collected. To do so, please send an email directly to “privacy” ‘at’ contact@sentier.com, or phone us at 512.687.6260 and ask to speak with the Operations Director, Mike Todd.
Access
Individuals have the right to access their personal information provided as a part of our research activities and be able to correct, amend or delete that information where it is inaccurate or processed in violation of applicable law except where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the individual’s privacy or where the rights of persons other than the individual would be violated. Upon request, Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC will permit individuals to access their personal information as indicated in this paragraph, however, for security purposes, adequate identification and verification will be required.
Other important information
Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC has mechanisms in place to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Sentier Strategic Resources reserves the right to modify and/or to update this policy and its related business practices at any time with no notice. The most recent Privacy Policy posted on the company website or research forum is considered the current one. Please view this Privacy Policy on a regular basis.
Where in adherence with applicable law, all disputes arising under this Policy shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to principles of conflict of laws. The parties to this Policy will submit all disputes arising under this agreement to arbitration in Austin, Texas, before a single arbitrator of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”). The arbitrator shall be selected by application of the rules of the AAA, or by mutual agreement of the parties, except that such arbitrator shall be an attorney admitted to practice law in Texas. No party to this Policy will challenge the jurisdiction or venue provisions as provided in this section. No party to this Policy will challenge the jurisdiction or venue provisions as provided in this section. Nothing contained herein shall prevent the party from obtaining an injunction.
In summary, Sentier Strategic Resources, LLC is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of personal information of all research participants and visitors to our website and to resolving any complaints about privacy or use of personal information. Please view our company website at www.sentier.com to learn more about our company. Please contact Mike Todd, Operations Director, with any questions or concerns regarding privacy at 512-687-6260, or email us at contact@sentier.com using “Privacy” as the subject.