What is the Oxford Resident’s Panel?
The Oxford Resident’s Panel is a unique online research community where residents have the opportunity to share their views and opinions on subjects such as the future of Oxford City, the services provided by the Council, or other local organisations it links directly with, such as the local transport authority, police or universities.
Through participation in research studies you will provide insight that will help Oxford City Council and improve its services to residents. Your voice will be heard at a senior level within the Council.
Who is on the Resident’s Panel?
Our Resident’s Panel is open to residents of Oxford City. All we ask is that our members are 16 years of age or older, and live within one of Oxford City’s designated postal codes.
Why participate?
The Resident’s Panel is your opportunity to share your opinion on current Oxford City Council work as well as contribute to future developments so that we can meet the needs of you, our residents.
Can I ask others to join the panel?
We want to ensure that as many Oxford residents as possible have the opportunity to participate in the panel. If you know someone who wishes to join the panel, please ask them to contact oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.uk.
How do I apply to join the Resident’s Panel?
You will be asked to complete a registration questionnaire. It is easy to apply, see How to join the Oxford Residents' Panel and follow the instructions on the page.
Once I am a member, do I need to login to the Oxford City Council website to complete a survey?
No, there is no log-in requirement; we will simply email you a link to any survey you are invited to complete.
What would I need to do as an Oxford Resident’s Panel member?
As an Oxford Resident’s Panel member, you will be invited to take part in various research projects throughout the year. Most of the research we send you will be online, which means we will send email invitations for you to complete a survey. You don’t have to complete or take part in any of the surveys we send you, but it would be helpful if you could complete as many as possible.
The surveys may ask questions on a range of topics including current work by Oxford City Council, new or existing services, or topics that we may require your feedback on.
We want to be respectful of your time, so our aim is not to invite anyone to complete more than one or two surveys per month; generally, it will be less frequently than this, however on rare occasions you could receive more than one.
Surveys will usually be online but there may be times when we invite you to take part in research via telephone, video or in person where appropriate. Participation is always optional.
What happens if I don’t do any surveys?
If after several invites you have not completed any surveys, we may contact you asking if you wish to continue to be a member. While there is no obligation to complete any of the research we invite you to, we do reserve the right to remove members after a period of time if we consider you to be inactive. Also your participation may be linked to any incentives we may offer.
What incentive is there for taking part?
Whilst participation in surveys will help us to deliver better services and listen to your views on what you would like to see as the future of Oxford, we recognise that your time is valuable. As a thank you for joining the panel and taking part in surveys you will be entered into a quarterly prize draw of £250, comprising of one £150 prize for the first name drawn out, and two of £50 for the second and third names selected. Full details of the draw will be provided in the Terms of Membership. Oxford City Council reserve the right to amend the prize draw terms at any time.
Why do you ask general questions about me in the registration?
In order for us to understand our panel members, it is useful to have a broader understanding about you, for example your age, gender or household information, etc. By having this information, it also allows us to target surveys to specific groups who will find a particular topic most relevant.
Why do you need my contact details (name and email address) and is it safe?
We ask for these details so that we can communicate with you personally. Your personal information is securely stored in accordance with UK GDPR and in a manner compatible with other data privacy legislation that may be in force at the time. Our appointed research agency Beehive Research Ltd, will have access to the information and may contact you to refresh your profile information, or carry research out on our behalf however, we will never pass your personal information on to any third parties. In agreeing to the Terms of Membership you are agreeing to your information being stored in this way.
Read Oxford City Council’s Coporate privacy notice.
How do I change/ update my profile?
On various occasions we may invite members to update their profile information, however if you feel your circumstances have changed substantially please email oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.ukand tell us you would like to update your profile; we will arrange for a profile survey to be sent to you to update.
How do I unsubscribe or cancel my membership?
If you would like to leave the Resident’s Panel, please send an email to oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.uk from the email address you used to register to the Panel with and include ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line.
Who are your appointed research agencies in relation to the Resident’s Panel?
Oxford City Council has appointed Beehive Research Limited to provide us research services in relation to the Resident’s Panel. Beehive Research will manage the recruitment to the panel, and may manage some of the day-to-day running of the Resident’s Panel on our behalf. They may also administer surveys including analysis and reporting of results. Beehive Research is based in the United Kingdom and is a Company Partner of the Market Research Society.
Will my views and responses be treated in confidence?
Member privacy is assured at all times; individual responses to surveys will remain confidential and will be used for the purpose of analysing the results only.
All of your responses will remain anonymous and will be reported in aggregate form. Your personal responses will not be directly attributed to you, unless you provide specific consent for us to do so. In the event that we ever wish to ask questions where further contact may be helpful based upon your answers, or if we can attribute your answers directly to you, this will be clearly stated at the time of the interview and you will have the option to not take part, or to not have further contact.
Will any of the results be published?
Yes, results of the research may be published within Oxford City Council publications and websites and on occasions in more widely spread reports. However, all participants will be anonymised unless there is written permission from you to use your name.
How will you contact me?
Most of the research we send you will be online, which means we will send email invitations for you to complete a survey. However, on occasions we may need to conduct other types of research such as telephone, postal and face to face interviews; if we need to conduct research in this way, we will always check with you first and obtain your permission to do this.
How am I notified if there is a survey for me to complete?
Our primary method of communication with members will be by e-mail invitation.
Why haven’t I received any email invitations?
Sometimes some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may categorise email as spam even though you have requested to be a member of the Resident’s Panel and are therefore sometimes filtered out. Please check your spam filters for our emails and add our email address, oxfordresidentspanel@euro.confirmit.com, and oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.uk, to your trusted list. Please also see the Technical FAQs below for more information.
How long are the surveys?
We always try to keep our surveys as short as possible, but some subjects do require a depth interview. Participation in each survey is voluntary so if a survey is too long, or not of interest, you may decide not to complete it. Members can also unsubscribe from the Resident’s Panel at any time.
What if I’m away when a survey is sent to me?
You are not expected to do every survey. If when you return the survey is still open, then you will be able to complete it. If not, simply delete the email invitation and wait until you are invited to another one.
How long do surveys remain valid?
You may have more or less time for certain surveys. The surveys you receive, will indicate a specific closing date wherever applicable.
I have registered but have not yet received a survey
If you haven’t received a survey yet, it could be for any one of the following reasons:
- We don’t send all surveys out to every member.
- We try, where possible, to balance the number of surveys you receive, as we appreciate the time you give in providing feedback.
- We may not have a survey relevant to you yet. We do target different surveys to specific types of member to ensure that they are as relevant as possible.
How can I contact you about a survey?
Simply send us an email to oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.uk. We will aim to reply to you as soon as possible within normal working hours.
If you have technical problems
If you have a technical problem relating to the Resident’s Panel, we will certainly try to assist you, however we may not be able to respond immediately.
Please email any issues to oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.uk and please give us a brief description of the problem. It may also help us to know the following:
- Internet Browser you are using, e.g. Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari
- Your Operating system, e.g. Windows MacOS, IOS
- Your Internet connection, e.g. Broadband, WiFi, mobile data.
What to do if you have any further questions
If you have any other questions, please contact us at oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.uk.
Who to contact if you have a complaint
In the first instance we would ask you to raise any complaint to our Resident’s Panel team by emailing us at oxfordresidentspanel@oxford.gov.uk. If, however, you are unsatisfied with how your complaint has been handled you can contact Oxford City Council's formal complaints procedure.
