Handling of Survey Respondents' Personal Information
The effective protection of personal information is a major social issue today. In particular, when conducting a panel survey, where the same individuals are followed continuously for a certain period of time, the handling of personal information is critical.
In this panel survey, the personal information of respondents (names, addresses, etc.) is not used for any purpose other than for the implementation of the survey. Additionally, such information is managed with sufficient care to ensure that no third party can access it.
Handling of Survey Respondents' Answers
This panel survey includes questions about private matters, such as occupation and income. However, all answers are processed statistically so that individuals cannot be identified from their answers. Needless to say, their answers are never known to third parties.
The major reason for requesting information about such matters is so that we understand the overall situation of the society; we also need to include such information in our analysis to have invaluable knowledge not only in an academic sense but also for the purpose of policymaking.