Members of the Pew Research Center (“Center” or “we”) American Trends Panel (the “Panel” or “ATP”), a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. Adults, must be residents of the United States and at least eighteen (18) years old. The Center is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation with its office at:
901 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
1. Rules for Participants in the Surveys
The Center’s Panel is made up of U.S. Adults who answer questionnaires, online or by phone, that the Center’s vendor, AUS Marketing Research Systems DBA SSRS (“SSRS”) sends to members of the Panel (the “Panelist”, “Panel Member”, “you”) via email, voice call, SMS, or other electronic communication in accordance with applicable law.
2. Joining the Panel
Subject to the age restriction mentioned above, the Center invites a limited number of people in randomly selected households across the nation to join the Panel. People who do not live in these selected households may not join. We also reserve the sole right to deny participation in the Panel, without any requirement to justify such a denial.
Membership is not open to employees of the Center or members of their immediate family, or to employees of SSRS, or members of their immediate family.
3. Privacy
By participating in the Panel, you consent to the Center’s processing of your information consistent with our Privacy Statement.
4. Email & Communication Settings
Due to your mail-box security settings, the survey invitations you receive from us might be directed to your bulk/junk mail or similar folder. To avoid this, please add the info@americantrendspanel.org address to your address book.
5. Registration and Background Information
Providing SSRS and the Center with certain demographic information and personal information about yourself is a condition for participation in the Panel, as it would otherwise not be possible for us to determine whether your participation in any survey would meet such survey’s criteria. We may also ask some basic information about characteristics of other members in your household.
During the registration process and during your participation in our research surveys, you agree to provide only true, accurate, and complete information, and agree to update the account-related information that you supplied to ensure it remains up to date and accurate.
6. How Does the Panel Work?
All Panelists will receive survey invitations by email, SMS, telephone, or other electronic communication from the American Trends Panel. There is no obligation for you to answer surveys. Each survey is only to be answered once. If you decide you are not interested in taking part in a specific survey, simply delete the invitations or ignore the phone calls. The Center is not required to send surveys to all Panelists for each new survey; nor does the Center guarantee a minimum or a maximum number of surveys per year.
SSRS and the Center undertake data security measures; nevertheless, even advanced measures can become subject to vulnerabilities. Should any viruses, malware, or similar content appear in the emails or electronic communications sent to you, SSRS and the Center are not liable for the consequences that such cases may entail and thus no compensation may be claimed from SSRS or the Center for such reasons.
When the necessary number of Panelists have answered a survey, or if you do not fit (or no longer fit) the profile for a survey, the Center reserves the right to end the survey at any stage and not collect further answers.
7. Acceptable Survey Participation
While participating in the Panel, you understand that any messages, opinions, information, pictures, or any other materials shared by Panelists are the sole responsibility of the person who provided the material. You agree that you will not share any material that:
- Contains viruses, corrupted files, “Trojan Horses,” or any other malicious code.
- Contains the personal details of other people.
- Is owned by or under the copyright of someone else.
8. Rewarding You for Answering Online Surveys
Each time you complete a survey before the deadline, you will receive either a check or an Amazon (or other similar company) gift code depending on your preference as indicated at the time you joined the Panel. You can contact panel support at any time to change your preference for method of payment.
9. Confidentiality Notice
As a Panel Member, you may come in contact with, be allowed to see or use, or otherwise have access to certain non-public, confidential, proprietary, or trade secret information or material that are the sole and exclusive property of the Center (collectively, “Confidential Information”). You must not copy, print, store, forward, or disclose to anyone by any means, the Confidential Information you will have access to, and you must not use the Confidential Information for any other purpose than the purpose it was disclosed to you.
10. Intellectual Property
The Center shall own and retain exclusive ownership of its trademarks, logos, copyrights, any content of its website, and other intellectual property rights (“Center IP”). You may not use or reproduce any of the Center IP without the Center’s prior written consent. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall be construed as granting you any license, right, title, or interest in any Center IP, or any patent, trademark, copyright, know-how, or similar right now or hereafter owned or controlled by the Center.
11. Indemnity and Limitation of Liability
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Center and SSRS and each of its respective officers, partners, clients, managers, employees, agents, and attorneys, from and against any and all liabilities, claims, actions, suits, proceedings, judgments, fines, damages, costs, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees, court costs, and/or settlement costs) arising from or related to: (i) your membership in the Panel, (ii) your participation in research surveys conducted by SSRS and the Center, (iii) any third-party claims related to your participation on the Panel, or (iv) any breach by you of these Terms and Conditions.
Any unlawful or disparaging action caused by you during your membership within the Panel and to your participation within research surveys conducted by the Center, that may be considered a violation of criminal and/or civil law, shall entitle the Center to seek all remedies in this regard to the full extent permitted by law and in equity. The Center disclaims any warranties, express and implied, related to your membership within the Panel and to your participation within research surveys conducted by SSRS and the Center, and SSRS and the Center shall have no liability whatsoever (including, without limitation, liability for any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages), to you or any third party, for your membership within the Panel and to your participation within research surveys conducted by SSRS and the Center.
You will release and forever discharge the Center, SSRS, each of their affiliated companies, and each of their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, and agents from and against all claims, lawsuits, causes of action, demands, losses, liabilities, obligations, judgments, damages, costs, and expenses of any kind (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) (“Losses”) arising out of your participation on the Panel.
12. Arbitration
In the event of any dispute, claim, question, or disagreement arising from or relating to the Panel or these Terms and Conditions or the breach thereof, the parties hereto shall use their best efforts to settle the dispute, claim, question, or disagreement. To this effect, the parties shall consult and negotiate with each other in good faith and, recognizing their mutual interests, attempt to reach a just and equitable solution satisfactory to both parties. If the parties do not reach such solution within a period of thirty (30) days, then, upon notice by either party to the other, disputes, claims, questions, or disagreements shall be settled by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with the provisions of its commercial dispute resolution rules, unless you are a government agency or political subdivision in a State or jurisdiction for which binding arbitration is expressly not allowed by law.
13. Participation Conditions
SSRS and the Center reserve the right, at any time, to change the present “Terms and Conditions”. We may inform you of any updates via email and/or postal letter.
From time to time, we may contact you by email or phone for account administration purposes or special announcements containing key information related to your Panel membership activity and key Panel updates (“Membership Updates”).
14. Withdrawal from the Panel
You may at any point ask to leave the Panel and stop receiving emails, SMS, or phone calls or messages from SSRS and the Center; your notice to leave the Panel should be sent by e-mail to info@americantrendspanel.org or via telephone at 1-800-643-1107. The Center and SSRS will endeavor to process your removal from the Panel within 60 business days after we receive your notice. Your account will become inactive in the Panel database.
15.Termination of Membership
The Center also reserves the right to terminate membership in the Panel for any conduct not within our quality parameters or business objectives, for any other violation or breach of these Terms and Conditions, the Privacy Statement, or survey rules, or for any other reason. Any use of the Panelist account or taking a survey by an individual other than the Panelist is considered an unauthorized use and may be grounds for termination and forfeiture of compensation.
The Center reserves the right to suspend or delete inactive Panelists from the Panel. This means terminating a Panelist’s membership if the Panelist does not regularly participate in the surveys invited to.
16. Jurisdiction
These Terms and Conditions are governed by Pennsylvania State laws and the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Philadelphia, PA.
Los miembros del American Trends Panel (el “Panel” o “ATP”) del Pew Research Center (el “Centro” o “nosotros”), panel representativo a nivel nacional de adultos estadounidenses seleccionados al azar, deben ser residentes de los Estados Unidos y tener al menos dieciocho (18) años de edad. El Centro es una corporación sin fines de lucro de Pensilvania con domicilio en:
901 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20004