Walnut conducts hundreds of telephone surveys every year on behalf of organisations that want to understand the views, experiences and opinions of their customers, service users or the wider public.
For some studies, Walnut uses specialist fieldwork partners to carry out telephone interviewing on our behalf. These partners are carefully selected and work to agreed quality and data protection standards when conducting research for Walnut.
Walnut remains responsible for the overall management of research projects conducted on behalf of our clients, including projects where telephone interviewing is carried out by specialist fieldwork partners.
If you have a question following a call, would like to verify that a call is related to a genuine Walnut research project, or wish to make a complaint, please contact us at walnut_calledbyus@accenture.com.
To help us investigate, please include:
- The telephone number that was called
- The date and time of the call (if known)
- The telephone number displayed on your phone (if available)
Frequently Asked Questions
We called you recently and you have a complaint or query
Telephone calls connected with Walnut research may come from different telephone numbers depending on the project and the specialist fieldwork partner carrying out the interviewing. As a result, we do not publish a definitive list of telephone numbers used for Walnut research.
If you’re unsure whether a call is related to a genuine Walnut research project, please email walnut_calledbyus@accenture.com with details of the call and we will investigate.
We aim to respond to enquiries as quickly as possible.
I do not want to receive any more calls
If you do not wish to be contacted again for Walnut telephone research, please email walnut_calledbyus@accenture.com. and provide the telephone number you would like us to suppress.
We will record your request and take reasonable steps to ensure that your number is excluded from future Walnut telephone research projects, including communicating suppression requests to fieldwork partners who conduct interviewing on our behalf. Telephone numbers supplied for this purpose will be used only to administer your request and prevent further research calls.
How is my information used?
Walnut takes the privacy of research participants seriously.
The way personal information is used will vary depending on the nature of the research project. Where appropriate, information about the purpose of the research and how your information will be used will be provided at the start of the survey.
Survey responses are generally reported to clients in aggregated and non-identifiable form. Where a project involves a different use of personal information, this will be explained to participants as part of the research process.
Personal information is retained only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and in accordance with our data retention requirements.
For more information about how Walnut handles personal data, please see our Privacy Notice.
Will Walnut share my information with anyone else?
Walnut may use carefully selected service providers, including specialist telephone fieldwork companies, to conduct research on our behalf.
Where organisations process personal information for Walnut, they are required to handle it securely and only for the purposes for which it has been provided.
Information may also be disclosed where required or permitted by law.
For further details, please refer to our Privacy Notice.
Where did you get my telephone number from?
There are two common ways in which a telephone number may have been selected for a survey:
Customer research
Many of our clients ask Walnut to conduct research among their customers, service users or other stakeholders. In these cases, contact details may be provided by the organisation that commissioned the research so that we can invite individuals to participate.
Random Digit Dialling (RDD)
Some surveys are designed to be representative of a particular region or population. In these cases, telephone numbers may be selected using recognised market research sampling techniques, including Random Digit Dialling.
This involves generating potential telephone numbers from valid number ranges. Because the numbers are generated statistically, we may have no prior information about the individual associated with a particular number before contact is made.
Why are you calling me when I am registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS)?
The purpose of genuine market research is to gather opinions and information, not to sell or market products or services.
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is designed to reduce unsolicited sales and direct marketing calls and does not prevent genuine market research calls. If you do not wish to receive future research calls connected with Walnut, please tell the interviewer or contact us directly and we will record your request.
For information about TPS, please visit the Telephone Preference Service website tpsonline.org.uk.
How can I verify that a call was genuine market research?
Walnut is committed to conducting research in accordance with recognised industry standards.
If you have received a call and would like reassurance that it relates to genuine market research activity, please contact us at walnut_calledbyus@accenture.com and we will be happy to assist.
You can also use the Market Research Society (MRS) Freephone Verification Service, which allows members of the public to check the legitimacy of participating research organisations (mrs.org.uk).
Why did you call me in the first place?
Walnut carries out research for a wide range of organisations, including businesses, charities, public sector bodies and other organisations that want to understand the views and experiences of customers, service users and the wider public.
Research helps organisations make better-informed decisions by providing an independent understanding of people’s opinions and experiences.
If you would like more information about a specific call, please contact walnut_calledbyus@accenture.com and we will do our best to identify the study concerned.