In 2016 ESOMAR updated the ICC/ESOMAR International Code for a new era of research, with dramatic increases in the ability to collect, store and process information that is radically changing the way people live and work. This guideline is the first of three new guidelines to guide researchers on the ethical principles in this new era. As more data is being gathered in many different ways, ESOMAR and GRBN decided to combine the ethical principles for different methodologies into just three guidelines.

This new ESOMAR/GRBN Guideline is for researchers and clients engaged in primary research. It includes all quantitative and qualitative methods that involve direct interaction (such as to get consent) with the data subject, including passive data collection in which the researcher observes, measures or records a person’s actions. It also is meant to provide guidance for those who commission research. Methodologies included but are not limited to surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, ethnographic studies and some forms of observational research, including mystery shopping.