Many FutureLearn Partners conduct research studies as part of, or alongside, FutureLearn courses. We encourage research in courses and are happy to facilitate this where the research maintains a positive, consistent overall Learner experience, is compliant with data protection laws - including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and our own legal guidelines, and enables FutureLearn’s own research needs to be met.

You can view research terms and conditions for learners in our Privacy Policy, section 12. You can find out more about where and how research may be conducted in creating and sending partner surveys and research FAQs. Any research must have ethical approval and must be approved by the Partner’s project lead and FutureLearn Partnership Manager.

Please note that these guidelines may change as our understanding and implementation of GDPR regulations is established.

These terms and conditions are intended to help you plan your research in advance and decide on the most appropriate means of dissemination and collection.

Additional surveys or one-off studies which collect identifying data

Additional surveys or calls for participation in further research and activities, where data will be collected that could allow a partner to identify a learner.

Any such follow up contact with learners must relate to research or research communications that the learner has explicitly consented to (e.g. by ticking a checkbox) and is able to opt out of.  

FutureLearn will not permit learner_id to be correlated against any data collected via this method as this compromises the pseudonymity of datasets featuring this ID.

The research must be relevant to the partner’s course/courses.

The additional survey or webpage linked to must...

• Be created by, hosted by and managed by the partner (or co-creator or affiliated researcher) on their own website or their account with a third party site.
• Be unambiguously branded by the partner (or Co-creator or affiliated researcher), featuring the names of all parties running the research in the title or header.
• Not be written or designed in a way that may confuse learners as to the party carrying out the research, or imply that the FutureLearn T&Cs will govern their participation in the research.
• Include information on the introduction page (some of which may be linked to in an information sheet) summarising:
  • The purpose of the research in clear and unambiguous terms.
  • That this is an independent research study, together with the name(s) of the party/parties carrying out the research.
  • What type of participants are sought for the study, which may be all learners on a course.
  • The nature of learner participation required during the research (i.e. research methods, frequency and duration).
  • A brief explanation for why the study requests or tracks information that could be used to identify the learner.
  • The time period within which the research will be conducted.
  • How and when learners might expect to be re-contacted by the partner and for what purpose, if applicable.
  • A statement describing how the learner can opt out of further research communications, if relevant.
  • What the data collected will be used for, with no catch-all provisions such as “other legitimate business interests”.
  • The names of all parties with whom the data will be shared.
  • A statement describing how the learner can ask for their data to be removed from the study.
  • How research findings will be published or presented, at what level of granularity and to what audience, emphasising learner anonymity as appropriate and stating any explicit purposes the data will not be used for.
  • How the data collected will be processed, stored, or shared, emphasising secure processes and referencing accordance with the organisation’s own Privacy Policy, ethical research policy or Terms and Conditions governing data collection and use.  
  • The course (or courses) that the research relates to, if applicable.
  • That participation is optional and learners may stop taking part at any time.
  • That participation has no impact on a learner’s progress in any FutureLearn course.
  • A point of contact with the partner for questions learner may have relating to the research.

• Request the learner’s explicit  consent (e.g. by ticking a checkbox) to participate in the research and to confirm their understanding of the information provided above. Explicit consent is required by GDPR.
• Request the learner’s explicit consent to receive further communications regarding the research, if relevant. 

In addition, it is the partner’s responsibility to ensure that each research activity and the method of collecting, storing and handling data is in compliance with the relevant data protection laws that apply in their jurisdiction. Should the partner be required by their organisation/s to obtain ethical approval to conduct research, it is the partner’s responsibility to obtain adequate consent before research takes place and to adhere to it It is the partner’s responsibility to provide any further information and include any steps required to gain adequate informed consent from learners.

In order to promote the study...

You (the partner) must provide a brief piece of copy to share with learners in order to link to or promote the study. This must contain at minimum:

• A brief description of the research topic and purpose in plain terms.
• A request for the learner’s optional participation in the research study.
• A brief description of the type of participants the research study is intended for (which could be all learners on a course run).
• A description of the research activities that the learner may be asked to take part in (method, duration and frequency) and the time period over which they take place.
• A brief description of how the data collected will be used (e.g. to inform the partner’s work).
• The names of the organisation(s) running the research.
• A brief description of how the findings will be shared or published, emphasising learner anonymity as appropriate.

You must provide the URL for the survey or the study webpage. FutureLearn will check the visible contents comply with our requirements.

• Note: FutureLearn respects the research of partners and takes no responsibility for the partner’s content or study design. However we may make suggestions especially where we feel a study or the introduction to it will otherwise confuse learners, not be relevant to learners or result in an experience that reflects upon FutureLearn negatively.

You must let FutureLearn know:

• How you wish to promote the study (linked to from a course step, sent as a course notice or targeted email – please see below for an explanation of these options).
• For emails: Who you wish to send the call for participation to. For example, all learners on a course run who have opted into receiving research emails from FutureLearn when they registered on the FutureLearn website. At FutureLearn’s discretion, and where it does not potentially identify learners (without their consent), it is possible to send targeted emails to specific samples of learners on a course run, based on data we collect about their behaviours or attributes. Please allow at least 10 working days before you wish to send a survey if you want to explore sampling options.
• When you wish to send the email, or on which step you wish to promote the research.
• Note: FutureLearn may request alternative sampling, timing and promotion methods, according to our judgement of what is appropriate for learners and our own research activities.

You must also confirm the following in writing:

• If you deem that you require ethical approval for your research or not.
• That the activity and the method of collecting, storing and handling data is in compliance with the relevant data protection laws that apply in your jurisdiction.

Additional surveys or one-off studies which do not collect identifying data

In relation to a partner’s course/courses, where those surveys/studies do not collect data that could allow a partner to identify a learner. These may be linked to learner_id, depending on the method used to promote them.

The additional survey or webpage linked to must...

• Be created by, hosted by and managed by the partner (or co-creator or affiliated researcher) on their own website or their account with a third party site.
• Be unambiguously branded by the partner (or Co-creator or affiliated researcher), featuring the names of all parties running the research in the title or header.
• Not be written or designed in a way that may confuse learners as to the party carrying out the research, or imply that the FutureLearn T&Cs will govern their participation in the research.
• Not collect data that could be used by a partner to identify a learner.
• Include information on the introduction page briefly summarising:
  • The purpose of the research in clear and unambiguous terms.
  • That this is an independent research survey/study, together with the name(s) of the party/parties carrying out the research.
  • Who the survey/study is intended to be completed by, which may be all learners on a course.
  • What the data collected will be used for, with no catch-all provisions such as “other legitimate business interests”.
  • The names of all parties with whom the data will be shared.
  • How research findings will be published or presented, at what level of granularity and to what audience, emphasising learner anonymity and stating any explicit purposes the data will not be used for.
  • How the data collected will be processed, stored, or shared, emphasising secure processes and referencing accordance with the organisation’s own Privacy Policy, ethical research policy or Terms and Conditions governing data collection and use.  
  • The course (or courses) that the research relates to.
  • That the survey/study is optional.
  • That participation has no impact on the learner’s progress in their FutureLearn course.
  • A point of contact with the partner for questions learner may have relating to the research.

In addition, it is the partner’s responsibility to ensure that each survey/study and the method of collecting, storing and handling data is in compliance with the relevant data protection laws that apply in their jurisdiction. Should the partner be required by their organisation/s to obtain ethical approval to conduct research, it is the partner’s responsibility to obtain adequate consent before research takes place and to adhere to it.

In order to promote the study...

You (the partner) must provide a brief piece of copy to share with learners in order to link to the above survey/study. This must contain at minimum:

• A brief description of the research topic and purpose in plain terms.
• A request for the learner’s optional participation in the survey/study.
• A brief description of who the survey/study is intended to be completed by (which may be all learners on a course run who have opted into receiving research emails when they registered on the FutureLearn website).
• The names of the organisation(s) running the survey/study.
• An indication of the time or effort required to complete the survey/study.
• A brief description of how the data collected will be used (e.g. to inform the partner’s work).
• A brief description of how the findings will be shared or published, emphasising learner anonymity.

You must provide FutureLearn with the survey/study URL. FutureLearn will check that the visible contents of the survey/study comply with our requirements as stated above.  

• Note: FutureLearn respects the research of partners and takes no responsibility for the partner’s content, survey/study design or questions. However we may make suggestions especially where we feel a survey/study will otherwise confuse learners, not be relevant to learners or result in an experience that reflects upon FutureLearn negatively.

You must let FutureLearn know:

• How you wish FutureLearn to promote the survey/study (course step, course notice, targeted email – please see below for an explanation of these options)
• For emails: Who you wish to send the additional call for participation or survey/study to. For example, all learners on a course run who have opted into receiving research emails from FutureLearn when they register on the FutureLearn website. At FutureLearn’s discretion, and where it does not potentially identify learners (without their consent), it is possible to send targeted emails to specific samples of learners on a course run, based on data we collect about their behaviours or attributes. Please allow at least 10 working days before you wish to send a survey/study if you want to explore sampling options.
• When you wish to send the email / on which step you wish to promote the survey/study.
• Note: FutureLearn may request alternative sample, timing and promotion methods, according to our judgement of what is appropriate for learners and our own research activities.

You must also confirm the following in writing:

• If you deem that you require ethical approval for your research or not.
• That the survey/study is not collecting any data that could be use to identify a learner.
• That the survey/study and method of collecting, storing and handling data is in compliance with the relevant data protection laws that apply in your jurisdiction.